A road was sealed off and residents evacuated as a blaze spread through the roofs of homes in a village near Kidderminster today.

At the height of the blaze 25 firefighters from around Worcestershire were at the scene after the alarm was raised shortly after 9am.

Three people were ordered to leave a block of terraced houses in Cookley, for their safety after a blaze broke out in an unoccupied property.

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The blaze ripped through the roof of one of the houses in Lionfields Road and quickly spread to two others in the terrace.

An aerial ladder platform was sent to the scene from Worcester as the blaze took hold.

Crews wearing breathing apparatus who tackled the blaze inside the building had to retreat because of fear the roof might collapse.

Police closed off the road and prevented people from going near the properties and householders were evacuated by the sounding of firemen’s whistles.

Ammie Lancett, a 24 year old hairdresser, at Lacey’s of Cookley, said: “Someone said a ladies’ boiler exploded but I don’t know whether that is the case.”

Alec Mackie,spokesman for Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service said: “Unusually it was the fireman’s whistles that we used to help evacuate people from the other two houses.”

The cause is not thought to be suspicious.