A POLICE officer, a woman and a three-year-old child were treated in hospital following a house fire in the Dawdon area of Seaham, east Durham, yesterday.

The constable was climbing a ladder in an attempt to get into the blazing house, in Albert Street, fearing people were still trapped inside, when upstairs double-glazed windows blew out due to heat from the fire.

He suffered minor cuts to his head and hands and was taken by ambulance to Sunderland Royal Hospital.

A woman and the young child were also taken by ambulance to the hospital, as a precaution due to smoke inhalation, after they got out of the building. The fire happened just before 12.30pm.

The cause of the blaze, believed to have started in a bedroom, was under investigation by police last night, although it is not thought there were any suspicious circumstances.