A CHIP pan fire could have ended in tragedy for a Tavistock family, the town's top firefighter warned this week.
By the time the two fire appliances arrived at the house in West Street early on Saturday morning the kitchen was gutted.
Station officer Chris Neale praised the family for evacuating the four adults and a child who had been asleep in the house, and for smothering the fire, but he said lessons could be learned from the incident.
'It was potentially very dangerous,' he said.
Mr Neale said it was thought the chip pan had been accidentally left on a low heat all night,
finally bursting into flames some time in the early morning.
It was discovered when one family member got up and found the kitchen full of smoke.
The family was evacuated and two of the men went back in to tackle the fire themselves, before calling the fire brigade.
Mr Neale said all householders should check all their appliances are switched off before going to bed and call the fire brigade straight away if there is a fire on the property.