A THATCHED house sparked a full-scale emergency in Burcombe, near Wilton, when it went up in flames.

Seventy firefighters and 10 fire engines were called to the blaze at about 6.15pm on Friday.

The fire was eventually brought under control six hours later.

David Dunford, area manager for Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, said it was lucky no one was injured in the inferno.

He said: "We received a call about tea time on Friday evening.

"A vehicle attended and then another call was sent out to the rest of the engines when we realised the incident was quite serious.

"By the time I got there the fire was quite well developed. Three quarters of the thatch was on fire. By this time more engines had arrived on the scene.

"Thankfully the owner of the property managed to escape, since her neighbours alerted her about the fire.

"They had gone inside the house, into the loft and realised that the fire had started on the inside and given us a call.

"We did recover quite a lot of the owner's belongings and that was being done throughout the incident.

"Most of the engines left around midnight, although we left two engines to monitor the situation until Sunday morning.

"There were no injuries and apart from being quite shaken up about the incident, the owner of the property was fine."

Efforts were made to contain the blaze to the thatch but because of the serious extent of the fire the firemen couldn't save the thatch.

The ground floor of the house was also saved from serious damage.

Investigations are underway to determine the exact cause of the fire.