100 firefighters tackled a major blaze which took at least 10 hours to get under control and almost completely destroyed a two-storey grade II listed cottage at the weekend.
Crews were first called at 7.30 pm last Sunday and worked through until lunchtime the next day to try and save the thatched roof building, in Crediton, Devon. The cottage was attached and in the middle of a row of three.
Firefighters pulled up thatch from the roof to try and prevent fire spread, as well as cutting fire breaks in the roof compartments. However, the front and back of the building suffered from a partial collapse around 2 am.
The blaze, which happened in the same weekend as two other thatched property fires in the region, prompted a warning from Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service.
It said it had been able to save a similar building in
Drewsteignton because its roof space had been installed with fire resisting boards. However, another fire in
Bickleigh also destroyed a thatched roof building that did not have fire resistant compartmentation in its roof space.
Properties with thatched roofs should have fire detection systems installed inside their roof voids which are linked to others inside the building, the service said.
Area manager Nick Manning, who attended the incidents, said: “When a fire takes hold of a thatch property, the effects are usually devastating. Fire in a thatch roof can be difficult to detect and once started is almost impossible to control as it will spread rapidly. Due to the nature of how thatch burns, detection can often be too late. All of the properties involved had smoke detection.
"The property in Drewsteignton was much less severely damaged primarily due to the installation of fire resisting boards within the roof space. This meant we were able to save much of the thatch roof, and much of the property was not badly affected by the fire. Unfortunately, as no such fire resisting boarding were present we weren’t able to save the other two properties, both of which were virtually completely destroyed.”
It is believed all three fires were accidental and unconnected.
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