FIVE people were taken to hospital after inhaling smoke from a house fire in Govilon on Sunday evening.

Two fire crews, from Blaenavon and Abergavenny, left the mid-terrace house on Dragon Lane at 7pm and 7.45pm respectively once they had put out the fire. They had dealt with the blaze, which started in a first floor bedroom, since 5.50pm.

A Welsh Ambulance Service spokeswoman said paramedics were called to the house at 5.51pm after they received a report of the fire.

A paramedic in a rapid response car and a crew in an emergency ambulance attended and five people – three adults, one teenager and a baby – were taken to Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny. All were suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation, the spokeswoman said.

Initially, a South Wales Fire and Rescue Service (SWFRS) spokeswoman had said one person had been taken to hospital for a precautionary check up.

SWFRS’s head of fire control Jennie Griffiths had tweeted earlier on Sunday that the first floor of the house was “well alight” but that the fire was under control by about 7pm.

And a SWFRS spokesman said yesterday that the fire crews had used a ladder to reach people from the house.

He said the cause of the fire was thought to be accidental but that it was still unclear what it was.

A Gwent Police spokeswoman said officers were not called to help at the house.