A FAMILY'S Trowbridge home has been saved from the flames by the UK's first sprinkler system installed on a large-scale housing estate.

Mother-of-three Amanda Harvey, 38, could only watch in horror as fire engulfed her garden shed and moved towards her home in Kensington Fields on Monday afternoon.

A cigarette flicked onto a mattress stored next to the shed started the fire as Miss Harvey's 17-year-old son Shane sat playing cards in the garden.

Neighbours moved quickly to save the family's cats and guinea pigs, but when the flames reached the kitchen, the heat melted the window, triggering the sprinklers inside.

West Wiltshire Housing Society, which owns the property, is delighted their pioneering project had come up trumps.

Miss Harvey said: "It could have been a damn sight worse. I was in my friend's back garden and we saw all this black smoke. I realised it was coming from my home. When I got there it was a right blaze.

"My kids and my pets are my life so I would have been devastated if anything had happened to them. I want to thank the bloke who broke down my door to get my cats out.

"Without the sprinklers it could have cost me my home."

Fire crews from Trowbridge and Westbury were called at 4.30pm, but the fire was contained outside the house.

Studley Green was the first major housing development in Europe to have homes fitted with a sprinkler system.

It was installed in 208 homes six years ago as part of a pilot project between the housing society, Wiltshire Fire Brigade, West Wiltshire District Council and the Residential Sprinkler Association.

The project's aim was to raise awareness of the benefits of sprinkler systems and persuade government ministers to include them in building regulations.

John Alford, chairman of the Studley Green Tenants and Residents Association, said: "When the sprinklers were suggested some people were sceptical, following wrong images in TV shows of sprinklers going off everywhere and soaking everything.

"We had our work cut out to convince everybody but this fire has shown that they work and are a real lifesaver."

David Oakenson, housing society chairman, said: "Our joint investment has certainly paid off here as the sprinklers worked perfectly, containing the fire.

"The fire brigade told us without the sprinklers the ground floor of the house would have been gutted and the tenant made homeless."