Man, 58, and girl, 14, both die in house fire in Cumbria – as police and fire service launch probe

A 58-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl have died after a fire tore through a house in Cumbria on Sunday morning.

Police and Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service were called to a blaze at Toll Bar Houses in Distington at 4.47am.

Neighbouring properties were evacuated, no further injuries were reported and emergency services have launched a probe into the cause of the fire.

Several roads in the area remain closed including sections of the A595, A597 and B5306 with motorists being advised to avoid the area.

A police statement said: ‘Police were called at 4:47am today (22 May) with a report of a house fire at Toll Bar Houses.

‘A 58-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl, both from Distington, died at the scene of the fire.

Police and Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service are working together to investigate the potential cause of the fire.

‘Neighbouring properties were evacuated and there are no further reported injuries at this time.

A number of roads remain closed as emergency services continue to deal with this incident.’

John Beard, chief fire officer of Cumbria fire and rescue, told BBC Radio Cumbria: ‘We’ve still got crews on scene at the moment and we were faced with a really serious fully developed fire on arrival so the crews had a really challenging incident to deal with.

‘It is under control now so the crews are just damping down the hotspots.’