One man escaped after fire caught hold of and almost destroyed his isolated Fenland cottage.
One man escaped after fire caught hold of and almost destroyed his isolated Fenland cottage.
Inquiries are under way to find out the cause of a fire which severely damaged the cottage on the outskirts of Wisbech today.
Fire chiefs said an investigation has been completed and the most likely cause of the fire is accidental, by electrical equipment.
Ady Slack, Station Commander, said: 'When firefighters arrived there was a well developed fire in a two-storey cottage. One man was safely out of the property after his smoke alarm alerted him to a fire.
'Flames were coming through the roof of the conservatory and had spread to the lounge area by the time crews arrived.
'The fire quickly took hold of the property and the roof and first floor have since fallen through, leaving just the shell of a house.
'Sadly, this home has been completely devastated, however, the man inside made it out alive and that is thanks to his working smoke alarm. We would urge all families to make sure they have a correctly fitted working smoke alarm, which is regularly tested.'
Owing to the unsafe structure and the building collapse, firefighters had to work in what they described as 'tough conditions' to continue to extinguish the fire.
The fire broke out at around 1am and crews from across the area were called to tackle it.
When fire fighters arrived they found the fire well alight and some crews remained until well into the day to dampen down.
Two crews from Wisbech, one from March, one from Stanground and a water carrier from Yaxley were called to tackle the fire at Primrose Cottage on South Brink.
On arrival, fire fighters found the four bedroom semi detached property well alight. The Multistar 1+ aerial appliance was in use to tackle the fire from above.
Eight hours later crews from Chatteris, Whittlesey, Ramsey and Ely were still at the scene.
For a time police closed the nearby A47 to allow fire crews to tackle the blaze.
The whereabouts of the home owner is not known.
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