FIREFIGHTERS attended a vehicle fire after a car battery and an aerosol can exploded on a busy day for the service on Boxing Day.

Dorset Fire and Rescue Service (DFRS) was called to a total of 14 fires and false alarms throughout the day across Dorset yesterday.

At 12.15pm a car battery and an aerosol can exploded in an Audi TT driving along the A354 Weymouth Relief Road.

Firefighters were called to the scene after the aerosol can and the battery, which was stored in the car’s boot, ignited causing an explosion in the battery terminals.

The fire was extinguished on arrival, and the car was made safe by disconnecting the battery and removing it from the vehicle.

The rear of the car and the interior of the boot were destroyed by fire and shrapnel from the explosion and there was also further damage to the car’s main interior, caused by shrapnel.

The service was also called to a chimney fire on a thatched roof in Milborne St Andrew at 1.22pm.

Two crews from Bere Regis and Blandford attended the scene, and took more than an hour to extinguish the fire using a hose reel jet. No damage was caused to the thatched roof.

The service was also called to another property fire at Maiden Newton at 7.25pm after food in a microwave caught fire in a ground floor kitchen. Two crews attended the incident, one from Maiden Newton and one from Dorchester, and the fire was extinguished by removing the microwave from the kitchen.

The microwave was destroyed in the fire, but there was no other damage to the property.

DFRS also attended a number of false alarms throughout the day, in Wyke Regis, Weymouth and Bridport, caused by smoke alarms sounding after cooking was burnt.