MORE than a dozen people were evacuated from council flats in Newton Abbot after a freak kitchen blaze over the weekend.

Nobody was hurt in the CCTV-caught drama which firefighters are hoping to show as a training film.

The footage shows just how easily domestic blazes can start - and the sequence of innocent events which lead to them.

It will also illustrate how well fire doors function to confine smoke and flames to one room.

A mum was with three children in the ground floor community kitchen on Saturday evening when she placed a box of food on the hob without seeing one of the children playing with the oven dials - one of which was switched on at a low heat.

The family party left the area, only for the food bank box of goodies to slowly catch fire and fill the room with smoke.

But the smoke did not escape into a hallway because separating fire doors were doing their job.

A fire spokesman who attended the incident in Albany Street just after 8.30pm on Saturday: ‘This was an accident. But the footage would be good for our training exercises. It ropes in numerous safety messages - not to place combustible material on hobs, keep an eye on children in kitchens and check cookers are switched off.’

He added that the footage also revealed how fire doors were an invaluable aid in holding back smoke and flames.

Damage at the scene was confined to the food box. A positive pressure fan was used to clear smoke.

Some 15 people in the two-storey building were evacuated for the half-hour period it took three fire crews to make sure the venue was safe.

Fire spokesman Rob Cude confirmed the service was hoping to use the CCTV footage to show just how easily fires started.

No one was injured during the incident. Residents were allowed back inside once the all-clear was given.

Two sets of breathing gear were worn as firefighters used a hosereel jet and safety jet to extinguish the blaze.