A FIRE which gutted the first floor of a Newport house is being investigated as a suspected arson.

Neighbours said emergency services evacuated people living near on Livingstone Place, Maindee, in the early hours of yesterday morning as flames and smoke billowed out of a terraced house.

They told the Argus how flames as high as six feet could be seen through its first floor windows, which were blown out by the blaze.

Later yesterday investigators could be seen in the first floor of the house, which appeared to have been gutted by the blaze, which began at around 12.20am and took almost an hour to put out. Neighbours said they were allowed back into their homes the same morning.

The incident left the surrounding street charred and covered in burned out glass and wall insulation.

Charwar Gummalla, 23, said police knocked on the door at 12.30am and told them to take anything important.

He and his housemates grabbed their passports and waited on the side of the road.

“They were worried that the fire was going to spread,” he said.

One neighbour who didn’t want to be named said a police woman banged at her door at around 12.30am, asking her to evacuate.

She said the people living at the address were standing in Chepstow Road watching the blaze being put out.

Joan Arr, 56, was not asked to leave her house but saw the lights from the police cars shining through her window. She said she saw firefighters spray water straight into the burning windows from the street.

The mum came out of her house to see what was going on when she saw the flames rising as high as six feet.

“It was well alight when we came out. It must have been 20 minutes before the flames died back,” she said Smoke was also rising from the roof of two houses along from the fire-stricken property, she said.

A spokeswoman for the fire service said the first floor was left heavily damaged by the fire, which was put out by 1.17am.

Crews from Malpas, Maindee and Duffryn fire stations attended.

A police spokeswoman said enquiries were ongoing to establish the cause of the fire, which is being treated as suspicious. Three people were led out of the property, she added.

She appealed for anyone with information to call Gwent Police on 101 or Crime Stoppers 0800 555 111.