Station officer Chris Neale said the house owner had been burning-off the barge boards and had inadvertently set fire to the timbers. He had kept the situation under control with a garden hose until the fire crews arrived.
Around ten per cent of the roof was damaged, but in an operation lasting around two hours the fire was stopped from spreading to the remainder and the house.
l Despite the plea and information in last week?s Times, fire crews from Tavistock, Princetown, Yelverton and Bere Alston have continued to be called to gorse and grassland fires during the past week, said by Mr Neale to be caused by ?indiscriminate burning?. Five engines took four hours to extinguish the largest on Monday south of Brentor, when 75 acres of grassland were destroyed.