A COUPLE rescued by a neighbour when a devastating blaze swept through their home said last night they were lucky to be alive.

Matthew Melville, 20, and Melissa Chapman, 17, escaped with only the clothes on their backs after their Darlington home caught fire at 1am on Sunday.

It is thought a laptop charger was responsible for the blaze, which destroyed the house, in Lansdowne Street, burning through the walls to the brick and leaving the downstairs rooms unrecognisable.

The couple, who were treated in hospital for smoke inhalation, have told of their terrifying ordeal.

Mr Melville, a mechanic, described how he had been asleep downstairs on the sofa when he was woken by heat on his legs and face.

He said: “The wall was just a ball of flames. It had just gone up in one big fire.

“I grabbed the dog and pushed her out the door, then I quickly sprinted upstairs, screaming.”

Miss Chapman said: “I could hear him shouting, ‘babe’. I got to the top of the stairs and there was just smoke. I ran down into the kitchen and he just grabbed me and pushed me outside.

“I was in the middle of the street, screaming and shouting for help.”

Christopher Gill, the partner of one of the couple’s neighbours, helped rescue Mr Melville.

“I heard the screaming and I ran across in my boxer shorts,” he said.

“I saw what was happening and I pulled him out of the house. His T shirt was on fire.”

Mr Melville said: “The flames were unbelievable.

The fireman said it was the worst fire he had seen for 15 years.

“We were lucky – if I hadn’t woken up, we wouldn’t be here today. It is a good job Christopher was there.”

The couple were treated for smoke inhalation at Darlington Memorial Hospital, but, along with seven-year-old Staffordshire terrier, Millie, escaped otherwise unharmed.

Miss Chapman said she had been traumatised by the experience.

“If it were not for Matt, I would not be here today,” she said. “I am having nightmares.

I can’t sleep. I’m waking up in the middle of the night, shaking, and I can’t go to bed by myself. It is devastating.”

She said the incident highlighted the danger of leaving electrical items to charge unattended.

“I have been making sure everything is switched off before I go to sleep,” she said.

The fire brigade managed to extinguish the fire, but the rented house, which the couple had recently decorated, was completely gutted.

Miss Chapman said they had just got back on their feet after Mr Melville had been badly burned in an accident at work in August.

He needed skin grafts on both his arms and spent a month in the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle. It is thought Mr Melville had petrol on his body, which caught alight.

The couple, who did not have insurance, have lost all of their possessions in the fire, including sentimental items such as photographs, Mr Melville’s engagement ring and a gold Buddha given to Miss Chapman by her grandfather.

“Our friends and family have been amazing – we are so grateful to them,” said Miss Chapman. “We have had some lovely messages on Facebook – people saying how sorry they are.

“That is really nice.”

But she said the fire had left them homeless and reliant on the goodwill of their friends and family. “We literally have the clothes on our backs, and because we both work, we can’t get any help. If we were on benefits, we would be able to get a crisis loan,” she said.

“That is not right. We have paid our taxes. There should be some sort of Government help for people in this sort of situation. We have lost everything.”

􀁧 A number of major laptop manufacturers have recalled batteries in the past ten years owing to danger of fire.

Earlier this year, Hewlett- Packard recalled about 162,000 lithium-ion batteries used in HP and Compaq computers after eight people were injured and property was damaged in 36 cases relating to fires caused by the batteries overheating.

Dell, Toshiba and Hewlett- Packard recalled 100,000 batteries in 2008, while 9.6 million laptop batteries were recalled by technology manufacturer Sony in 2006.

In 2004, Dell recalled 4.4 million potentially faulty laptop power adapters after seven reports of overheating.

Even in batteries deemed to be safe, laptop users are advised never to leave a lithium battery to recharge unattended overnight, and to refrain from exposing batteries to high temperatures, including direct sunlight.