FIREFIGHTERS spent the early hours of Thursday morning tackling a serious garage fire in Little Bourton, near Banbury.

At 1.59am crews were forced to move a caravan that was parked up tight to the garage door in order to put out the flames.

As soon as they had access to it, firefighters used a high pressure hose reel to extinguish the fire.

A large fan was then used to remove the smoke and enable a thorough check to make sure no fire had spread into the home connected to the garage.

Watch manager John Callaway said: “The fire spread to a large store of firewood from some hot ashes which had been placed in a plastic bag within the garage some 18 hours before and which had developed unnoticed slowly throughout the day.

"The residents of the attached property had gone to bed not knowing of the dangerous situation that was happening in their garage and they were so lucky to be woken by their smoke alarm operating when the smoke started to seep into their home.

"They evacuated safely and immediately called the fire and rescue service.

“I cannot stress enough the importance of having working smoke alarms in the home and the need to ensure that hot ash is completely cold before disposal.

"Ash can remain hot for several days and should always be disposed of safely, preferably in a metal bucket with a lid and kept outside away from any flammable materials."