OWNERS of a thatched cottage in a village near Devizes had a lucky escape yesterday (Wednesday) when they smelt burning during the early hours.

Firefighters were called to Pound Cottage, Stert at about 12.40am but were originally told by the couple who live there that it was just an electrical smell coming from a fuse box in the tiled extension.

But Devizes station commander Pip Flowers, who was among the first on the scene, realised it was much more serious. He said: "I could see smoke coming from the roof.

"We took off some roof tiles to get to it and by this time there were flames. If the people had not realised when they did there was a problem and rang us it could have easily spread to the thatch and been a completely different story. It is exceedingly good fortune that they smelt something and heard a cracking and popping sound.

"The fire in the extension roof had already started to get to where it meets the corner of the thatch."

Two crews from Devizes were joined by others from Melksham and Calne. Mr Flowers said: "We managed to deal with it quite quickly but we stayed on the scene for a few hours as we wanted to make sure everything was safe. The people seemed very grateful for what we did."

He said the cottage was down a narrow lane which made reaching it difficult. It is the third blaze within a few weeks that has required Mr Flowers to lead a team to a house with difficult access. On February 28 parked cars made it impossible for fire appliances to reach a fire at a house at The Clays, Market Lavington and crews had to run down the road.

Two weeks later a thatched cottage in a remote spot at Roundway, Devizes, was also difficult for crews to reach. Mr Flowers said: "I think this latest one had even worse access that the other two. It is very twisty and narrow."