“Gallant” firefighters worked through the night to prevent a roof fire from spreading down a row of terraced houses.

More than 30 firefighters from Ilford, Barking and Dagenham tackled the blaze in Capel Gardens, Seven Kings from just after midnight this morning.

Two families escaped the flames before fire crew arrived and used specialist heat-seeking equipment to locate pockets of heat within the roof cavity. They finally managed to extinguish the flames just after 2am, having cut through roof tiles to get to them.

Watch manager Pat Hegarty of Ilford Fire Station said: “It it wasn’t for the gallant firefighting of the original crews at the fire it could have easily spread.

“It was incredibly hard work because people keep a lot of things in their loft and it is difficult to get in. It was amazing that apart from the obvious water damage the first and second floors were not too damaged.”

Despite dealing with heavy smoke in a confined space, no firefighters were injured during the fire. One crew remained at the scene this morning to ensure there were no further flames. Mr Hegarty said that some of the houses affceted did not have smoke detectors, and encouraged all residents to make sure that they fit a detector and check it regularly.

Did you witness the blaze? Do you have any photographs? Send them to tim.dickens@archant.co.uk or call 020 8477 3821.