A FAMILY from Whitchurch had a lucky escape last Wednesday after a fire developed in the boiler room of their property.

On November 12 firefighters from Tavistock were called to the domestic property at 5.50am and found the building to be well-alight and requested a further crew from Yelverton to assist.

Firefighters found the fire to be well developed within the boiler room of the property and used four breathing apparatus, a thermal imaging camera and two hose reel jets to tackle the blaze. The rest of the property was severely damaged by heat and smoke.

Western Power Distribution was requested to attend. Victim Support Services was also called to support the occupants of the property. All persons were out of the property prior to arrival of the fire service.

Glenn Arundel, incident commander, said: 'The smoke alarm in the property was not working and it was a very lucky escape for the people involved.

'I would advise people to please check their smoke alarms and their batteries to ensure that all are functioning property.'