FIREFIGHTERS were alerted to reports of smoke at a property in Dawlish.

The member of the public had called to report smoke was coming from a wall and fire was visible in a stud wall at the house in Barton Terrace yesterday.

Fire crews from Dawlish and Teignmouth went to the scene where the home-owner said they had already started to extinguish the fire using a hose-pipe from the garden through an open window.

Firefighters isolated the gas supply before going into the house and used a hose reel jet, small tools and a thermal imaging camera to investigate and extinguish the remaining fire.

While the Dawlish crew started stripping back the plasterboard, colleagues from Teignmouth arrived, and checked the upper and lower floors for any signs of fire spread, as well as checking the external temperature with use of another Thermal Imaging Camera.

A spokesman for Dawlish Fire Station said: ‘Once crews had revealed a further section of stud wall it was discovered that fortunately, through the home owners swift action, the fire had been prevented from spreading further.

‘Following a handover with the occupant and fitting some smoke detection in the property, all crews left the scene.

‘The cause of the fire was deemed accidental.’