FIRE investigators believe a cigarette caused a house blaze in which a disabled man died at the weekend.

George Todd, 61, died in the early hours of Saturday, in the house he shared with his two younger brothers, as flames engulfed his downstairs bedroom.

Mr Todd's brothers and a neighbour fought to save him, but the heat and flames were too intense.

Mr Todd's brother, Jeffrey, 51, was woken at about 2.30am and saw smoke coming through the floorboards into his upstairs bedroom at the family home in Balmoral Road, Darlington.

He managed to wake his other brother, Christopher, 46, but they were unable to reach George.

Jeffrey said: "I shouted to Chris to wake up and we hurried down the stairs and called to George, but he didn't answer.

"I went to the door of the back room and when I opened it the heat and smoke hit me."

Unable to get to George, and cut off by flames from their phone, they went to the home of their neighbours, Stephanie and Mark Harker.

Mrs Harker, 27, said that they asked for wet towels to put over their heads to try to go back into the house.

She said: "My husband went round with our hose, and at that time it looked like it was just the man's bed that was on fire.

"But then the window popped out and the flames knocked him back. He thought he could get in to put it out, but the heat was unbearable and he couldn't get in.

"The back window and patio doors completely melted. There was nothing anyone could do, they were helpless. The fire brigade were here in minutes, but the fire took hold so quickly once the window went.

"It was a nightmare, an absolutely awful situation. Our thoughts are just with the family."

Pete McDermott, fire safety team leader with Durham and Darlington Fire Brigade, said they were not treating the fire as suspicious.

He said: "Until we have a post-mortem examination, we can't say exactly how Mr Todd died, but we know the fire started in his bedroom downstairs.

"We know he smoked in bed, so we suspect a cigarette caused the fire."

Mr McDermott said the house did not have a smoke alarm because the brothers mistakenly believed that, because they were all heavy smokers, their cigarette smoke would set off an alarm.

The firefighter added: "We could have averted this tragedy had they had a smoke alarm, which we will provide and fit for free."

Meanwhile, a family of four had a lucky escape when a fire broke out in a bedroom, in Welbeck Avenue, only streets away from the Todd's home, less than two hours earlier on Saturday morning.

Mr McDermott said that although in this case there was a smoke alarm in the house, it was not fitted with a battery.