SMOKE permeating a home in West Street, Tavistock, in the early hours of Saturday morning was found to be caused by a motorcyclist wheelspinning on a laminate floor next door, firefighters said this week.
Tavistock station officer Tim Smith said the report of a smell of burning came at 1.45am, and by 3am firefighters were getting quite concerned when an investigation of the premises did not find the source.
?We made entry to the next-door property where we found someone revving their motorcycle and wheelspinning on the wood laminate floor,? he said. ?The back wheel had got so hot the tyre had melted into the floor.?
Smoke had permeated through the walls to the next door property where a young couple were living with their baby.
?My advice to anyone is not to take a vehicle with a petrol tank into a building, especially at the bottom of a wooden staircase which is the only means of escape,? said station officer Smith. ?This was a very silly thing to do.?