Little Bourton family evacuated in middle of night after hot ash causes garage fire

Two fire engines from Banbury were called to reports of a house fire with the roof well alight at around 2am on Thursday (November 2).

On arrival the fire crew, discovered a serious fire involving an attached garage and before forcing entry to tackle the blaze, they had to move a caravan that was parked up tight to the garage door.

As soon as access was made, a fire crew wearing breathing apparatus was able to enter the garage and using a high pressure hosereel, extinguish the fire.

A large fan was then used to remove the smoke and enable a thorough check for fire spread into the attached residential property and to assist investigations into the cause of the fire.

Watch Manager John Callaway said: “The fire spread to a large store of firewood from some hot ashes which had been placed in a plastic bag within the garage some 18 hours before and which had developed unnoticed slowly throughout the day.

“The residents of the attached property had gone to bed not knowing of the dangerous situation that was happening in their garage and they were so lucky to be woken by their smoke alarm operating when the smoke started to seep into their home.

“They evacuated safely and immediately called the fire and rescue service.”

“I cannot stress enough the importance of having working smoke alarms in the home and the need to ensure that hot ash is completely cold before disposal.

“Ash can remain hot for several days and should always be disposed of safely, preferably in a metal bucket with a lid and kept outside away from any flammable materials.”