FIREFIGHTERS who tackled a blaze in Crossways have been praised for their efforts.

The fire in Briars End started in a garage attached to a property and then spread into the family home.

Owner Colin Symes said he was out at the time of the fire which started at around 8.30pm on Thursday.

His son, who was in the house when the fire started, sounded the alarm by dialling 999 when he realised the garage was on fire after spotting the flames from a window of the house.

It is believed the fire was caused by an electrical fault.

Mr Symes, who lives in the cul-de-sac in Briars End with his wife, son and daughter, said by the time he got to the family address the firefighters were already at the scene.

He said: “There was a fire in the garage and it escalated to the house.

“The fire service got here pretty quick.

“There was a lot of flames – the garage has been completely destroyed.

“It was quite scary.”

He added: “I’d like to say a really big thank you to the firefighters and thank them for their professionalism.”

Nearby resident Rob Gales, who lives in Dick O’ Th’ Banks, also praised the fire service for their efforts.

He said: “The fire looked like it was going to spread to another property, but the fire service managed to take control of the fire before that happened.

“You’ve got to take your hats off to the fire brigade, they were in the house searching bedrooms with the garage still on fire and there was certainly a lot of smoke in the house.”

Mr Gale added: “The fire came to my attention when I saw the flames from my road and there were quite a few large bangs from garage.

“At the fires’ height, the fire spread from the garage through an upper window and into roof space of the house.”

A Dorset Fire and Rescue spokesman said: “At the height of this incident we had five fire crews on the scene and approximately 25 firefighters.”

Clem Stanley, incident commander at the incident, said fortunately no body was injured.

He said: “Crews did an extremely good job of stopping this fire spreading from the garage.

“It did cause some damage to the roof and there was smoke damage in the upstairs of the property, but it could have been a lot worse.

“Thankfully no one has been injured by this fire, but unfortunately the garage has been very badly damaged.”

A Dorset Police spokesman confirmed that police did attend the incident but are not investigating the fire and they did not believe it to be suspicious.