FIREFIGHTERS entered a raging fire which engulfed a Winsford home after they believed young children were trapped inside.

Fire crews attended a property in Austin Close at 1am on Friday and on arrival were told there were 'babies' trapped inside the building.

Firefighter Ronnie Moore, from Winsford Fire Station, said: "Myself and firefighter Lee Cliffe were the first breathing apparatus team to arrive and when I stepped off the appliance I was confronted by a woman screaming 'get my babies out'.

"I then looked at the house and saw the fire raging out of every window and door."

The two firefighters then ran to the back door and began to tackle the blaze but were held back in the hallway due to the severity of the fire which began to flash over at 1,000 degrees.

Firefighter Moore said: "Desperation set in to find the persons trapped as soon as possible because we both knew any form of life would not be able to survive the conditions so we managed to get upstairs and search the bedrooms.

"After searching all the rooms and extinguishing the fire we were notified that all persons had escaped and were awaiting medical assistance.

"Among the initial confusion from people around the house at the time of our arrival, our perception was that babies were left inside the building.

"However the person's cry for help for her 'babies' turned out to be three pet dogs which perished upstairs in the bedrooms."

Firefighter Moore is now offering advice to anyone who speaks to emergency services at the scene of an incident.

He said: "If you are ever in this sort of unfortunate position then please pay great importance to providing emergency services with very clear instructions and details which will help us tremendously.

"This property did not have smoke alarms either and if it did all this could have been avoided."

Four people were taken to hospital although their injuries are not thought to be serious.

The cause of the fire is being investigated.