A 53-YEAR-OLD man has died following a fire at a terraced house on Fore Street in Bere Alston on Boxing Day.

Fire and police attended the fire after receiving a call at 7am from a member of the public.

Three fire crews from Bere Alston, Tavistock and Yelverton were mobilised. Upon arrival crews requested the attendance of a further crew sent from Tavistock along with the incident command unit from Totnes.

An ambulance took the man to Derriford Hospital where he was declared dead. The man’s next of kin have been informed and there was no-one else in the property at the time of the fire.

The crews used four breathing appartus, two hose reel jets, a thermal imaging camera and a positive pressure ventilation fan to extinguish the fire.

The police and fire services have worked together to investigate the incident but at this stage they believe the fire was started accidentally and are not treating it as suspicious.

If you were in the area at the time and have any information that may be relevant, call 101 quoting police log 127 for December 26.