A POLICE support officer who was directing traffic away from a fire in a North-East town centre was hospitalised after she was hit by a car.

Traffic heading into Darlington ground to a halt this afternoon after the road was closed following a blaze at a furniture shop.

Fire crews were called to the store at North Road, Darlington, at 1.15pm after witnesses saw flames coming from the building's roof.

The female police community support officer was injured when two cars collided as they approached the road block at the junction with Whessoe Road.

A spokesman for Durham Police said: "It seems she was knocked down after a lorry collided with a Ford Fiesta, which led to the car spinning round and hitting the officer.

"After being given first aid at the scene by a fire crew who were in the area, she was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital with chest and arm injuries.

"Medical staff have confirmed that her injuries are not as serious as initially feared, although she will remain in hospital for treatment on a suspected broken arm."

Fire crews used a ladder platform and hoses in a bid to stop the fire spreading throughout the entire terrace.

Watch manager Gary Bankhead, of Darlington Fire Brigade, said the incident happened after a rubbish fire was lit in a downstairs basement next door to the Direct Suites shop.

"Some builders were doing renovation work and decided to burn some rubbish," he said.

"Unfortunately, as the fire developed, the smoke couldn't work its way up through the chimney, so the basement filled with smoke.

"We extinguished the fire quickly and found out that there was smoke coming from the roof area above the shop.

"The internal structure of the chimney had failed as there were some holes in the roof void. The fire had entered the roof void and set fire to the roof timbers."

Four fire engines, plus the aerial platform were used to put the fire out. No-one was injured in the incident.

"The shop was open, as you would expect on a busy Tuesday afternoon, and it had been fully evacuated by the time we arrived," said Mr Bankhead.

"There were two people in the adjacent building and we led them to safety.

"Unfortunately the road had to be closed so that we could get the ladder platform to work right outside the building. It meant that there was a very slight detour for traffic, but traffic did build up for a number of hours in the North Road area.

"We could not have carried out the operation safely if there had been cars driving past."

The road was closed until 4pm.