A kitchen was gutted by a blaze but nobody was injured.
A fire broke out early this morning in Deford Road, Witham.
Three people who lived in the home were already at work at 6.20am when the blaze broke out.
They believe it was due to an electrical fault.
A neighbour said she was awoken by an alarm but she initially assumed it was just her neighbours getting up for work.
She soon realised it was a smoke alarm and contacted the fire brigade.
Two fire crews from Witham arrived at the address, which is off of Allectus Way, where the fire was confined to a downstairs utility room.
The neighbour said it was "horrific" to see the smoke that poured out of the house when firefighters opened windows.
Wearing two sets of breathing apparatus and using one hose reel firefighters had the fire out by 6.40am.
The ground floor of the house was smoke logged and the crews remained at the scene for about an hour to ensure the home was safe.
