A MAN has died after an early morning blaze tore through his home in County Durham.

Concerned neighbours of Alan Andrew Peacock raised the alarm after seeing smoke billowing from the end-of-terrace house in Gladstone Gardens, Consett, in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Despite desperate attempts from residents to rouse the 41-year-old, he was unresponsive and he was pronounced dead once firefighters had pulled him from the burning house.

It is believed it was his mother Margaret’s home and he was just staying there temporarily.

People living nearby paid tribute to Mr Peacock and his devastated family who they described as ”keeping themselves to themselves” but “lovely”.

A 26-year-old man, who was preparing to leave for work at around 6.30am on Friday, was alerted to the fire by another neighbour.

He said: “I was de-icing my car but I hadn’t seen the smoke at that stage. It was my neighbour who came out because he heard something.

“Then I saw the smoke coming through the roof rafters and I went round the other side and I saw it coming through the windows from the downstairs of the house.

“I told my neighbour to call the fire brigade while I started banging on the windows and doors to try and wake them up but no one responded.”