Firefighters take on chimney fire at a home in Chorley.

Householders waited safely outside while four fire crews fought to put out the blaze, believed to have started from debris in the chimney on Monday, February 26 at around 6.20pm.

A spokesman for Lancashire Fire and Rescue said: "The fire was most probably caused by the ignition of debris in the cavity wall or chimney area by heat radiated from the flue of the multi fuel fire.

"The fire caused severe damage to the roof structure and personal possessions stored in the loft space.

"Upon arrival large volumes of smoke were being emitted from the roof tiles, this quickly turned to flames.

"The occupants rang 999 once they realised that sparks were coming from the chimney and had heard debris falling behind the fireplace. They immediately exited the property, rang 999 and stayed out."

The 15 firefighters tackling the fire were initially unable to enter the roof space as it was extremely smoke logged and the structure of the bedroom ceilings were compromised by the fire.

Once the crew had forcibly removed numerous roof tiles the smoke was cleared using ventilation fans. This enabled the crews to safely enter the roof space and extinguish the flames which had spread throughout the roof space.

An Aerial Ladder Platform from Hynburn was used to remove the fire damaged contents of the roof to minimise internal damage to the house and carry out the safe removal of the roof to enable a fire in the cavity wall to be extinguished.

Following the fire Lancashire Fire urge homeowners to make sure chimneys are regularly swept and checked.