A house fire near Lakenheath last night has claimed a man’s life, it has been confirmed.

But fire crews who attended the blaze at the end of Decoy Road in Sedge Fen now face investigating its cause in a structurally unstable building.

The death was confirmed by Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service which sent a total of nine vehicles to the scene after the blaze broke out around 7.50pm yesterday.

Four fire engines initially tackled the blaze which was described as “relatively intense” by the time crews arrived by fire investigation officer Steve Mableson.

“We’ve had an intense fire in a detached single-storey private dwelling where there was one occupier,” he explained.

“I can confirm at this stage that we’ve identified one individual in the premises and we will be investigating over the next few hours to try to establish what caused it.”

Mr Mableson also confirmed one man who was in the building had died during the fire.

A police cordon had been put up at the property while investigations took place after it became clear early in the incident one person was unaccounted for.

“We’ve established where the individual is. It’s a very sad set of circumstances,” he said.

“Obviously we’re here to try and establish why this incident happened and to do our best by the gentleman that’s no longer with us.”

Mr Mableson said the fire was now fully extinguished but the a cause is yet to be established.

He added the property was in “a pretty poor state of repair” and additional precautions needed to be taken to make it safe for crews to work in because it is “structurally unstable”.

“We need to get it right so it will take a little bit of time for us to try and do that,” he said.