A HAMPSHIRE family arrived back from a dream holiday to encounter double trouble at home - a flood and a fire on consecutive days.

Mike and Carmen Rice and their daughter, Kate, returned to their house in Cloughs Road, Ringwood, after spending a three-week break with relatives in the United States.

Mrs Rice told the Daily Echo: "We came back on Tuesday to a flooded kitchen - then there was a fire on Wednesday night.

"The flood happened after one of the pipes under the floor started leaking and water came up under the tiling."

A plumber came on Wednesday evening to assess what repairs were needed and when he left, Kate went back upstairs and found a scented candle next to an open window had fallen onto her bed.

She raised the alarm while her father attempted to carry the burning mattress downstairs which left him with burns on his hands.

Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus tackled the blaze, which damaged the bedroom and filled the rest of the house with smoke.

A Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said carrying burning objects from a room was not recommended.

He added: "Mr Rice should have shut the bedroom door to starve the fire of oxygen and to contain the blaze."

Mrs Rice said: "Mike started to carry things out, which he probably shouldn't have."

She agreed that he could have been badly burned but said: "I think it was just instinct."

Mrs Rice and her daughter suffered smoke inhalation. All three were treated at the scene by paramedics.