Retired firefighter Bert Goodship died after his clothes caught alight during an accident in the kitchen of his Devizes home.

Mr Goodship, who was 85, was making porridge at his home in Elcombe Gardens, when his clothes caught fire from the flame from the gas hob at 9.45am last Thursday.

A crew from Devizes Fire Station attended and gave first aid until the ambulance arrived.

The Great Western Ambulance Service sent a double manned ambulance, a rapid response car and a Wiltshire Air Ambulance paramedic in a response car.

Mr Goodship, a former fire officer, suffered serious burns and ambulance staff treated him at the scene.

He was driven to Wiltshire Police headquarters from where he was flown by the Wiltshire Air Ambulance to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.

Mr Goodship suffered 25 per cent burns and underwent a major operation but died the next day in the intensive care unit with his children at his bedside.

He lived with his partner of 13 years Ruth Crudge and they were both members of the Crown Centre in Devizes and Kennet Friendship Circle.

Sam Wilson, manager of the Crown Centre, said: “Bert was a lovely man and a supporter of the Crown Centre. We will all miss him. He hadn’t been in to the centre lately as he hadn’t been well but Ruth took home lunch for him from the centre.”

Mr Goodship was born in Holt and went to school in Trowbridge. He served with the Royal Navy on a minesweeper during the Second World War.

He joined Wiltshire Fire Brigade in 1949 and worked at Trowbridge Fire Station.