Crews battle Guilden Morden thatched roof blaze

FIRE crews from three counties battled a thatched roof blaze for over five hours yesterday (Tuesday).

The cottage, in Potton Lane, Guilden Morden, was alight for several hours and firefighters from Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire were in attendance after receiving a call at around 3.30pm.

The ten crews worked during the evening and night creating a fire break, where a section of thatch is removed to prevent the blaze spreading, as well as extinguishing the sections already on fire using three jets and four hose reels.

Firefighters also removed furniture from inside the cottage.

At 10pm the incident was deemed to be safe and crews left the scene, completing re-inspections throughout the night to ensure there were no hot spots remaining.

Gary Mitchley, incident commander for Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Due to the hard work of crews we were able to put a fire break in quickly, which stopped the fire from spreading.

“Due to this we managed to save about fifty per cent of the house.

“Crews were also able to save a number of belongings and pieces of furniture from the home, using salvage sheets.

“We would like to thank the local community, which came out in force to offer the owners help and support during this devastating time.”

A fire investigation will take place this to determine the cause of the fire, no-one was injured in the blaze.