THE teenage boy who died following a house fire in Cwm has been named locally as Alex Lewis.

The 17-year-old died following a house fire in Stewart Street in the early hours of this morning.

Friends and neighbours of the teenager have paid tribute to the teenager describing him as a "lovely boy" who had ambitions to join the army.

A friend of the family, Nicola Willams said: "He was a lovely boy and it is such a shock and such a loss to lose someone who always had a smile on his face."

Neighbours who said they had known him for his whole life said he was a “lovely boy, one of the best”, popular and well-respected. One friend of his family said he was regularly seen in Cwm running as part of training as he looked to join the army.

He was widely known as ‘Mousey’, they said, because he was small and fast.

And another neighbour said the Cwm community is “devastated” by his death. 

Gwent police, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service and the Welsh Ambulance Service attended the house fire in Stewart Street just after 3am today.

Inspector Simon Powell-Jones said entry was forced into the premises and firefighters rescued the teenager who was taken to Nevill Hall hospital in Abergavenny.

But the teenager later died.

Inspector Powell-Jones said the teenager’s family were being supported and a joint investigation is now underway between the police and the fire service to establish the cause of the fire.