A house was heavily affected by heat, fire and smoke on the evening of Friday, January 3.
Firefighters believe that the fire at the house in Catmere End, Littlebury, started because of a hot ember which escaped an open fire and was left undetected. It then ignited furniture while the owner was in bed.
A statement from the Saffron Walden Fire Service read: "Working smoke alarms gave an early warning to the resident. They were able to escape the property with the pets and alert us. On arrival we found a developing fire in a lounge with heavy smoke logging throughout the property.
"We used four breathing apparatus sets and two hose reel jets, a Positive Pressure Ventilation fan and two thermal image cameras to extinguish the blaze.
"An hour after leaving the incident, we were called back to the same property by worried neighbours when the smoke alarms actuated again. However, on this occasion it was caused by fumes from the earlier fire."
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