The alarm was raised by a staff member from the nearby bakery who saw smoke coming from the roof, allowing the property to be safely evacuated.
Crews from Basingstoke, Rushmoor, Hartley Wintney, Andover and Eastleigh attended just before 3.00pm. On arrival, they found the roof was well alight and used four hose reel jets and the aerial ladder to tackle the blaze.
Thankfully, no one was injured but the roof and part of the first floor were badly damaged.
Station Manager Simon Forster, the incident commander, said: “It’s believed the fire was caused by solar panels on the roof.
“Our thanks go to The Street Bakeshop who stayed open to allow us to use their facilities and who saw the smoke and rushed over.”
Bakeshop owner Tim Goodwin said: “Two of my team, Jared and Emily, saw the smoke coming off the roof and ran across to make sure that the daughter of the owners got out. They were able to make sure she was safe and that no one else was in there.
“Then Sonia and Natalia from my team stayed on and kept the shop open for the firefighters. I’m really proud of my team.”
By 5.00pm crews had started salvaging items from the house and were damping down. The stop message was received shortly after 6.30pm, with the incident scaled down to two fire engines and the aerial ladder.
