A MOTHER has thanked a vigilant neighbour whose quick action prevented her whole house from going up in flames.

An electrical fault caused a fire to start within the garage of a property, in High Garret, on Monday at around 6pm.

Two fire crews from Braintree were sent to the scene after a passer-by had spotted smoke coming from the property and notified the fire service.

The homeowner, who asked not to be named, said: “We were in London at the time and there was no one at home. My neighbours have dogs and they were barking. I think the fire service were concerned at first when they arrived there was a dog inside.

“I really want to say thank you to the lady who was walking past and to the fire service as well who were here very quickly and did an amazing job.

“The fire service said if they were called later it could have spread further and the wall could have ended up falling down.”

On arrival at the property firefighters discover that the blaze had started somewhere in the garage and believe it was caused by an electrical fault.

They were forced to cut away the wall of the upstairs of the property to tackle hot spots as the blaze had reached inside the wall cavity.

The upstairs bedroom, belonging to the son of the owner, has been left smoke damaged and the garage is severely fire damaged.

There were long delays in both directions whilst fire crews worked at the scene, extinguishing the fire by 8.20pm.

The homeowner said: “The firefighters think it could have been to do with the wires connected to the boiler so when the boiler came on it started the fire.

“We have not lost much because it was put out so quickly but it has done damage to my son’s bedroom wall.

“Most of the stuff in the garage is junk but there is some equipment in there like a spare cooker. We are grateful that no one was hurt and it could have been a lot worse. Hopefully the power will be back on soon and then we can get back to normal.”