Bungalow blaze

Startled neighbours have described seeing an "almighty plume of smoke" as they watched fire crews battle a bungalow blaze.

Colin Ball said the fire, which happened at about 5.30am on Thursday in Ashford Avenue, was the most dramatic event in the road for nearly 40 years after firefighters from Staines and Sunbury fought the flames for over an hour, using 2 hosereels and six breathing apparatus.

Retired Mr Ball said: "Me and my wife were fast asleep when we were woken by flashing lights. I looked out there and at first couldn't see anything and I don't know who raised the alarm.

"But then smoke started coming out of the tiles and by the end there was an almighty plume. There was a hell of a lot. I then saw flames in the front room."

No one was in the house when the fire broke and firefighters say it started in the front bedroom, causing it "extensive damage".

The rest of the bungalow suffered smoke damage. When the Herald & News visited then scene a few hours after crews had left, furniture, blackened and destroyed, was lying outside, windows were charred and a side door was boarded up.

Mr Ball said the house has been unoccupied for about year after it's owner, an elderly man, passed away. It's believed the house is now owned by the man's son.

He said: "Nothing like this has happened in all the time I've been here, and that's 38 years. It's lucky the place was unoccupied because I didn't hear a smoke alarm."

Another neighbour, who didn't want to be named, said: "You don't expect things like this to happen on your own doorstep. It was like something out of a television programme.

"The crews were here very quickly after it happened though and did a very professional job. There was a fear the fire could have spread to other houses."