Fire crews were called out in the early hours of the morning to a domestic property fire at Colston, on the outskirts of Axminster.

Axminster and Chard fire crews was called to the scene at 3am following reports of a fire in the downstairs of a private property. On arrival, they found that one man had evacuated the property and there was no one else inside.

The man was suffered from the effects of smoke and the crew requested the attendance of the ambulance, treating him with oxygen therapy while they waited for it to arrive.

They set to work extinguishing the blaze with two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus and one hose reel jet.

Crews also requested the attendance of a further fire engine from Charmouth to assist with the protection of surrounding properties.

At 3.38am crews increased breathing apparatus wearers to four and were tackling the fire using two attack jets and one safety jet.

At 4am they requested the attendance of the incident support unit from Martock to provide more breathing apparatus cylinders.

The fire was contained to the room of origin but the rest of the property was significantly damaged by smoke. The cause of the fire was accidental.

Crews remained on scene this morning, waiting for the arrival of a representative of the housing organisation responsible for the property to take over duty of care of the scene.