Eight men fled a burning house in Hendon in the early hours of this morning.

Twenty-one firefighters were called to Kings Close at 1.25am where they found flames coming out of the front door and the house filled with black smoke.

The blaze was under control by 3.50am, but most of the house had already been destroyed.

More than half of the ground floor, all of the stairs, three quarters of the first floor, and part of the roof were damaged by fire.

Watch manager Mark Lanaway from Hendon fire station said: “The house was gutted by the fire, which was very intense.

“Crews did incredibly well with the challenging conditions and got the fire under control, preventing it from spreading to the terraced house next door.

“It’s a real miracle that none of the occupants was injured in the blaze, as it started in the early hours and took hold very quickly. The house didn’t have any smoke alarms, so this fire could easily have had a very tragic outcome.”

None of the men were injured. The cause of the fire is under investigation.