Burning rubbish bin damages house

AT  5:46 am on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 Oxfordshire County Council Fire and Rescue Service were called to fire outside a property in Beech road, Chinnor.

A fire engine from Thame Fire Station attended the incident and found thee wheelie bins on fire. This had also spread to a wooden fence and damaged the outside of the house.

The occupier had been alerted by a noise outside, went outside to investigate and manged to reduce the spread of fire using a garden hose. Fortunately, the swift intervention meant that firefighters could fully extinguish the fire and using a Thermal imaging camera check that it had not spread into the roof of the house.

The fire was caused by hot ash from a bonfire that had been put in the plastic wheelie bin the previous day and after smouldering for some time it eventually set alight the rubbish in the bin and spread rapidly.

Incident Commander, Watch Manager Andy Ford said: “This incident has highlighted the danger of disposing of embers from a Bonfire or Barbecue before they have completely cooled down. Fortunately, on this occasion the occupiers were alerted by the noise and were able to call the Fire and Rescue Service. If left unattended the fire could have spread into the house whilst the occupiers were asleep.”