FIRE crews battled a blaze caused by a chimney fire for more than nine hours last night. 

The emergency services were called to a semi-detached property on Winterslow Road, Porton at 5.59pm last night (15 November).

On arrival, the property was heavily smoke-logged but the occupants were safely outside.

A spokesperson from Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue service told the Journal: "Because of the complexity of the premises, we sent two crews from Salisbury, [as well as one each from] Wilton, Andover, Fordingbridge and Amesbury, together with the aerial ladder platform from St Mary’s in Southampton and an incident command vehicle from Devizes."

The service added that six breathing apparatus wearers and three hose reel jets were used to extinguish a fire on the house's ground floor, and the aerial ladder platform was used to tackle the chimney fire – both started accidentally due to the open coal-burning fire.

The spokesperson added: "The incident was scaled back over the course of the evening, with relief crews attending from Cranborne, Tisbury and Shaftesbury, and our stop was at 3.07am."