Listed building wrecked by Charmouth blaze
1:00pm Saturday 27th November 2010
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A LISTED building was gutted when a midnight blaze ripped through an old rectory in West Dorset.
Six fire crews were called to a house in Charmouth at 11.50pm on Thursday and arrived to find the Grade II listed building well alight.
Firefighters were forced to withdraw from The Old Rectory, in The Street, as the flames spread to both floors and caused the roof to collapse.
No one was inside the property at the time, but a springer spaniel was rescued and two cats ran off.
Firefighters spent three hours tackling the blaze and were still on the scene yesterday dampening down and ensuring the building was safe.
Station manager Dave Myers said: “Crews worked extremely hard during the night to reduce the amount of damage caused, however part of the roof of the building has collapsed.”
Neighbours described hearing ‘mini explosions’ and seeing ‘balls of smoke’ in the air.
Next door neighbours Anne and Geoff Clough feared the fire could spread to their property. Mrs Clough said: “We were awoken by these bangs and looked out of the window and there were the flames
roaring up.”
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