A bungalow blaze meant firefighters had to strip a quarter of the roof from a home near Worcester Park yesterday evening.

Teams from Epsom and Esher were called to the fire, in Park Dale Crescent, just after 5pm and attended within five minutes.

A spokesman from Epsom Fire Station said: “All the neighbours were outside their houses and there was smoke billowing from the roof.”

He said two fire fighters wearing specialist oxygen equipment were sent in and the fire was under control in about 15 minutes.

He said: “Getting to work and putting it out was done and dusted within about 15 minutes. It was the auxiliary stuff afterwards, removing the tiles, that took longer. We were there for about two hours.

“About a quarter of the roof had to be stripped off.”

The fire is believed to have been caused while refurbishment work was carried out on the house. No one was injured.