Three fire engines, two police cars and an ambulance arrived on the scene at Bishopstone Walk, just off Tollgate Hill.

Smoke could be seen coming from a downstairs and an upstairs window at 11pm on Sunday.

Incident commander Steve Phillips said: "The cause of the fire is undetermined at present. The house will be guarded all night and an investigation will take place in daylight.

"We believe no one was in the house at the time of the fire."

A next door neighbour, who did not want to be identified, said: "All I heard was a big bang. My little girl was terrified. We got out of the house very quickly.

"I am not sure where the bang came from but smoke was coming out all of the windows."



See this week's Crawley Observer for full story