A home could have been gutted by flames if it were not for quick-acting firefighters, a station commander said.

Fire crews from St Neots, Huntingdon and Gamlingay were alerted after smoke started bellowing out from a window of a home in High Street, Yelling, at 3.51pm on Wednesday (August 13).

The fire started in a dishwasher in the kitchen and spread to a sky-lit annex and the roof.

Firefighters has to cut away parts of the annex roof to put out the fire, which was extinguished by 5.21pm.

Station commander Wayne Swales said: “The resident had put the dishwasher on and gone out into the garden to play with two children and when they returned just a few minutes later there was smoke issuing from the property.

“The resident did exactly the right thing by not re-entering the property and instead going to a neighbour to use their phone to dial 999. They did all the right things, including having working smoke alarms.

“The fire spread from the kitchen to the sky-lit annex area of the property into the roof. It also resulted in smoke logging in the next door house. There was also smoke damage to the ground floor where the fire had started.

“If the crew from St Neots hadn’t have arrived so quickly and started their firefighting efforts as swiftly and effectively as they did, then this could have spread a lot quicker and taken the whole house. Instead, crews managed to catch the fire before it spread and contain it to just one area of the house.”