FIRE ripped through two houses in York this afternoon in what was the city's fifth blaze in three days.

Householders in Alcuin Avenue, Tang Hall, fled both homes when the blaze took hold shortly before 1pm.

The fire is thought to have started in an upstairs bedroom of one of the houses.

Flames then spread to the neighbouring semi-detached property. No one was believed to have been trapped.

One of the householders, Roy Church, 64, told the Evening Press how his neighbour in the house where the fire had broken out ran to tell him of the danger.

Shocked Roy said: "My house is full of smoke. It's come through the loft into my house."

Three fire engines from York station attended the fire. Smoke billowed from the windows of the properties and four firefighters using breathing apparatus fought to get the blaze under control.

Crowds of people gathered as householders came out of neighbouring properties and watched the drama unfold.

Firefighters were throwing burning clothes from the windows in their efforts to put out the fire.

The cause of today's fire is not yet known, but the blaze came as firefighters urged people to ensure their homes are fitted with working smoke alarms in the light of the four previous serious house fires in York.

Three properties in Dringhouses, Elvington and Haxby were badly damaged and an elderly man from Tang Hall narrowly escaped death as a result of the fires, which all happened on Monday.

Joe Catton, Assistant Divisional Officer at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said of the earlier four fires: "These incidents demonstrate the importance of fitting smoke alarms, and making sure they are in working order.

"The properties that were not fitted with smoke alarmssuffered bad smoke and fire damage and could have proved fatal to the occupiers had the fires occurred in the early hours of the morning."

Updated: 14:16 Wednesday, February 25, 2004