A smouldering cigarette almost destroyed a Surbiton house on Monday, July 5 after a fire broke out in the garage and threatened to spread to the rest of the building.

No one was injured in the 10pm blaze in Cranborne Avenue, which took firefighters from Surbiton and New Malden five minutes to bring under control, but 80 per cent of the garage was damaged.

A fire service spokesman said: “The fire was caused by negligent smoking materials due to the cigarette not being put out. It had been smouldering for some time before they noticed and by that time it was too late for them to do anything about it because it had spread to the rest of the garage.

“It broke through the roof and at one point was in danger of damaging the house. It melted the guttering but we managed to get it under control. If it had happened a couple of hours later they would not have noticed.”

Firefighers said the occupants were lucky to escape without further damage as their house did not have a smoke alarm fitted, which could have detected the smoke through an open upstairs window.

The spokesman said: “We would recommend you fully extinguish any smoking materials and ash trays should be filled with water before you go to bed because that guarantees it is then extinguished.”