A Carlisle family had a lucky escape today after an aerosol air-freshener dramatically exploded.

A child needed hospital treatment for burns after the frightening incident in a house in Raffles Avenue, Carlisle, which was triggered after the electric cooker on which the aerosol had been left was accidentally turned on.

Fire chiefs have now issued a warning in the hope of preventing a repeat.

The air freshener had been placed on the top of the cooker.

When it exploded, the blast was so powerful that it partially forced out the property's kitchen wall.

"There was structural damage," said a spokesman for Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service.

"The walls had bowed outwards.

"The family were extremely fortunate that the window didn't blow out. "The injuries could have been far worse."

Fire crews from the stations in the east and the west of the city were called out shortly after 9am today.

The injured child was taken to The Cumberland Infirmary by ambulance and treated for burns.

The spokesman added: "Everything points to his having been an accident.

"An aerosol is a basically a pressurised vessel filled with a substance such as butane, which is extremely flammable. When heated, the pressure builds up extremely quickly and they are designed to fail in a particular way.

"With this one, the top and the bottom had blown apart."

He added a warning that any aerosol should never be stored on or near a potential heat source, such as a cooker or a fire.