A wooden out-building rapidly caught fire on Hawthorn Way, Burwell and spread to a house and neighbouring home on Friday night.

The blaze was “most likely caused by a spark from a chiminea”, said station commander Paul Clarke.

“While these are a great garden feature, care must be taken with their use.”

Firefighters from Burwell and two crews from Newmarket arrived at 6.51pm to find the well-developed blaze.

“The crews immediately called for assistance and did a fantastic job to prevent the fire spreading further,” added commander Clarke.

Wearing breathing apparatus the crews extinguished the fire using hose reels and a jet.

The cause of the fire was accidental and the crews returned to their stations by 9.30pm.

A chiminea is a freestanding front-loading fireplace or oven with a bulbous body and usually a vertical smoke vent.