Fifty firefighters tackled toaster fire

A toaster sparked a house fire which took 50 firefighters using eight fire engines to extinguish.

The fire broke out at a home in Lyneham near Chipping Norton at about 13:00 BST on Saturday, Oxfordshire Fire Service incident commander Jason Crapper said. The blaze spread to the first floor and firefighters had to create holes in the roof in order to douse the flames.



Mr Crapper said: "The occupier did attempt to tackle the fire without success and was fortunate not to have been injured." The man had put some bread in to toast and had gone outside into the garden to read the newspaper.

Mr Crapper said: "The toaster was below a shelf in the kitchen which caught fire. The man tried to tackle it and pulled it off the work top in the kitchen. Unfortunately, the kitchen was full of stuff and the fire spread. There was timber cladding on the floor."