MORE than a dozen fire fighters have today tackled a blaze at a Hampshire bungalow.

Teams from Eastleigh, Botley and St Mary's were called to Windsor Court in Bishopstoke amid reports a microwave had caught fire.

They were alerted to the incident by a neighbour of the property, who heard a smoke alarm and dialled 999.

Fortunately nobody was inside the locked building, which had become filled with toxic smoke.

Station Manager Malcolm Freemantle who attended the incident said: "The working smoke alarm, installed by HFRS was instrumental in providing an early warning to the fire. Without this the fire could have been far more serious and potentially spread to a further three terraced bungalows.

"I would encourage everyone to have at least one working smoke alarm on each level of their home, testing it weekly. As this incident shows it could easily save your property and more importantly your life".

In total 13 firefighters attended this incident at 10am today. Following removal of the microwave, they used positive pressure ventilation to clear the smoke from the property. The stop message was received at 10:22am.