Mayhem as neighbours' digiboxes all burst into flames at once due to power surge

The set-top boxes began spitting sparks and residents living on the street described the road as being "lit up like Blackpool Pier".

Firefighters had to go from house to house asking people to unplug their electrical items as panicked home-owners ran into the street.

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Sharon Stubbs, 37, was out helping her neighbour whose sitting room had caught fire when a blaze started in her own house.

The mum-of-two said: "I'd been upstairs and I started to smell something strange, like burning in the house.

"I checked everywhere, but couldn't see anything.

"Just at that point my neighbour, Jackie Spence, came running out shouting. She was saying her house was on fire."

"Me and my sister-in-law rushed around there to see what was happening, calm her down and called the fire brigade.

"When the fire brigade turned up the neighbour on the other side came out to see what was going on."

Sharon, whose husband Darren, 37, and sons Ryan, 13 and Matthew, 10, were out at the time, said when they told him Jackie's digital television box had caught fire, he said his had also just erupted in sparks.

Sharon added: "Then I realised there was a problem with the electricity, so I sent my sister-in-law into my house to turn the electricity off.

"She came running out saying that now my house was one fire, so the firemen had to go in there too and put it out."

Another neighbour on the street in Washington, Tyne and Wear, injured his hand on the digital box wire because it had become so hot.

Sharon said: "It was a real commotion, looking back the firemen must have thought it was like a Carry On film.

"The power was so strong one minute the houses were lit up like Blackpool Pier and the next they were dim like candle light."

A spokesman for Tyne and Wear fire service confirmed that had they had been called to the street and had never of heard of anything like it before.

"We were called just before 7pm on Friday night by one person on the street who said some cables in their house were on fire.

"While the fire service were there, other people came out to say they were having the same problem.

"It's not something that I've been aware of happening before, but it is possible that if the boxes were plugged into the mains electricity and there was a surge something like this could happen."

Electricity company, NEDL, were called by the fire service and managed to sort the problem out by about 11pm.

Sharon said: "We were really lucky it didn't happen a few hours later when everyone in the street was in bed.

"I hate to think how bad it could have been."

Despite the damage to Sharon and Jackie's house, the neighbours say they have all received letters from NEDL saying the problem had been out of their control and the families would have to claim on their insurance.

Sharon says her flooring in the living room will need replacing and Jackie's home has been worse hit and will need replastering and redecorating.

Kevin Spence, 58, said he was at work when he got a call from his wife Jackie telling him about the blaze.

"Luckily my wife was in the house at the time, but if she'd been late in from work the whole house could have been burnt to the ground," said the machine operator.

"She managed to move the TV and the curtains out the way and then the fire brigade arrived.

"I have no idea how this happened but it seems to have happened to everyone.

The boxes on the wall are completely blown out and the house stinks of smoke. The TV wasn't even switched on at the time."

Neighbour Donna Elstob said her five-year-old daughter Demi Mackell was watching TV when the box started sparking.

"I was in the bath when I heard her shouting that it was giving off sparks," said Donna.

"I came running in, but luckily my partner had put it out. She was absolutely hysterical and won't even sit in the front room on her own now.

"I'm just relieved we were in at the time and managed to put it out. It's a three storey house, so if we'd been asleep upstairs when it happened it could have spread. It would have been impossible to get out."