A MOTHER and three children escaped from a burning flat in the early hours of today.

The woman - believed to be in her 30s - and the youngsters fled the third and fourth floor maisonette in Harmans Water, at 2.30am after the blaze took hold in her bedroom and triggered the smoke alarms.

Crews from Bracknell and Wokingham fire stations arrived within minutes to tackle the flames and contain them to the room.

All four were unharmed, but the blaze - which firefighters are putting down to a faulty television - blew out a window, caused severe damage to the room and smoke logged the rest of the house. More than 12 neighbours were also evacuated from the four storey building.

Firefighter Chris Martin said: "If they didn't have working smoke detectors it could have been a different story."