A MAN was taken to hospital early yesterday after a house fire in Darlington.

Firefighters were called to a terraced house in Grainger Street at 3.46am, after reports of a small fire.

Two appliances from Darlington Fire Station attended the ground-floor blaze and firefighters using breathing apparatus extinguished it.

A man was taken by ambulance to Darlington Memorial Hospital and was treated for smoke inhalation.

Station Officer Richy McArdle said the house did not have any smoke alarms, and firefighters had returned to the home yesterday afternoon to fit two of them.

"It is common practice for us to fit alarms in houses that don't have them," said Station Officer McArdle.

"We go to houses on a daily basis to fit alarms and do some basic fire checks free of charge.

"We hope that all the houses in the town will one day be fitted with these potentially life-saving alarms."