A SMOKE detector helped to alert the fire brigade to a fire which had broken out in a house in Seend yesterday.

The brigade were alerted by a call handling centre after the smoke detector went off after a fire started in a first floor bedroom of Seend Park Lodge in High Street.

The house is connected with a mains- wired smoke detection system which when set off contacts a call handling centre. At the same time a 999 call was made to the brigade by the son-in-law of the elderly female resident who lives in the property. A crew from Devizes Fire Station and Trowbridge Fire Station arrived just after 11.10am.

Fire fighters wearing breathing apparatus quickly put the fire out. Some heat and smoke damage was caused to the bedroom and upper floor.

The occupier of the house and her dog got out of the house safely.

Assistant divisional officer Andrew Hargreaves said: "There was quite a serious fire developing in one of the bedrooms upstairs. This shows how valuable smoke detectors are."