Wigan firefighters tackle log burner blaze and say they expect more as fossil fuel prices rocket

And Atherton watch manager Steve Waygood says he expects to see more of this kind of incident as residents try alternative fuels as the cost of gas and oil rockets.

Four fire engines from Atherton, Hindley and Leigh went to a home on Pendle Road, Golborne, at 1.30pm on Tuesday November 8 after a couple in their 60s reported that the burner in their wooden lean-to had caused it to catch light.

The man had already partially put out the flames by the time the crews arrived and only a small amount of smoke had got into the house itself where the woman was house-bound and, while she was treated for mior smoke inhalation, refused to go to hospital.

Damage was minimal too with the man already replacing burnt panels in the annexe by the time the crews left. But they only did that after uprooting the burner – which had apparently been heating the summer house without incident for the last year – and taking it elsewhere.

Mr Waygood said: “Thankfully this turned out to be a less serious incident than we first feared. It was good that the man spotted the fire early on. The smoke alarms in the house hadn’t even gone off.

"But that burner was placed too close to combustible materials and so we had to move it. Maybe this time it had been overloaded and that is what caused the wooden summer house to catch light.

"We would always recommend a qualified engineer to install log burners and that they be cleaned out regularly.

"I suspect we will be seeing quite a few more incidents involving log burners in the future as people turn to them as the price of other fuels continues to rise. People will also have to be mindful of what they put on fires other than regular fuels because that can cause problems in itself.”

Firefighters checked over the couple’s house for safety issues and installed more smoke alarms.