A FAMILY whose thatched cottage was gutted by fire have praised a bus driver they have named the hero of the hour.

Chris Gorton, who drives for Akcess, spotted smoke coming from the family home of Mark and Laura Horton in Uffcott shortly after 3.15pm on Thursday and not only raised the alarm but helped douse the flames before firefighters arrived on the scene.

At the height of the incident there were nine fire crews tackling the blaze from Westlea, two from Swindon, Stratton, Calne, Cricklade, Chippenham, Corsham and Royal Wootton Bassett.

They were supported by the aerial appliance from Swindon, an incident command vehicle from Stratton, and an operational support unit from Salisbury.

Laura was at home with the couple’s four year old son Jack when the blaze broke out along with one of her friends and her child.

Mark said: “The real hero without a doubt was Chris Gorton. He noticed the smoke coming from the other end of the building and he ran in and banged on the door and called the fire brigade. Without a doubt we would have lost the house without him.”

Mark, a self-employed builder and landscaper, was working nearby at Salthrop Farm when Laura rang to tell him the house was on fire.

He said: “I think more than anything I wasn’t sure of the scale of what I was going to see when I got home. But when I got here the bus driver – God bless his soul – was already hosing down the chimney stack where it was smouldering.

“I helped him for about five minutes and then I came into the house and went up into the lofthatch and could see flames on the inside of the thatch at the base of the roof.”

Along with the help of friend Mike Scott he doused it down with buckets of water before the fire brigade arrived shortly afterwards.

The fire and emergency support service from the British Red Cross, based at Swindon fire station, also attended at the scene to support the family.

Mark said: “There must have been anything between 30 to 40 people here at one point. As soon as they arrived they asked me to get out of the roof and they basically jumped on the roof and made a fire break in the thatch to stop it spreading.

“After bringing it under control they helped me cover it up and were here to after 8.30 in the evening. It really was an incredible service.

“The turning point without a doubt was the bus driver. Laura wouldn’t have known it was on fire at that stage, and if it had got into the bottom of the roof it would have been gone in half an hour.”

Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service area manager John Popowicz was incident commander. He said: “The crews did a superb job of creating a fire break in the thatch, which contained the damage to just one part of the roof. They were also able to prevent the fire from spreading into the main building. It’s my hope that the family will be able to move back into their home relatively quickly.”

Eager to discover the identity of the bus driver, Mark waited for the bus to pass the house on Friday afternoon and flagged the driver down to express his sincere thanks. They expect the rebuilding of the roof to take at least two months.