When they got there, they say the home owner was surprised to see them – but fire fighters quickly found smoke in the roof space, and a thermal imaging camera picked out lots of heat, more than 100 degrees celsius, on one side of the chimney stack.
They found that lots of soot had built-up within and behind the chimney, and was now burning. It took a crew of five fire fighters almost three hours to extinguish the fire, and make sure it hadn’t spread.
The fire service has now warned islanders to ensure they have their chimneys swept regularly, to make sure there are no nasty surprises for Santa, on the big day.
