FIREFIGHTERS attended a blaze at a home in Westbury on Tuesday which is believed to have been started by sunlight bouncing off a shaving mirror and reflecting onto curtains in the bedroom.

One fire crew from Trowbridge attended the incident at a property in Fatts Passage just after 6pm and used one hose reel jet to extinguish the flames, before using mechanical ventilation to clear smoke from the bedroom and landing.

Before firefighters arrived, a neighbour had helped the woman living in the property, who is in her 60s, by throwing some of the items that were on fire out of the window. They were both treated by paramedics at the scene for smoke inhalation.

A fire investigation carried out following the incident found that the most likely cause was sunlight bouncing off a shaving mirror in the bedroom and catching the curtains.

Matthew Skyme, Trowbridge station acting watch manager, said: “When we arrived, one of the neighbours had chucked a lot of the bedding that was on fire from the bedroom window to stop the fire spreading.

“The damage was mainly to the bedroom and the landing and the rooms had a lot of smoke in them. The alarm was raised by the smoke detector as the woman living there was downstairs at the time.

“While the neighbour who helped did help stop the fire from spreading, we would never advise people to enter a property that is one fire. Both the man and the woman were treated for smoke damage at the scene.

“A fire investigation carried out afterwards found that the fire was started by a shaving mirror by the window in the bedroom, which had reflected the sun onto the curtains.”