Thatched roof destroyed in Bassus Green house fire

Crews from across Hertfordshire attended the scene

Crews have spent more than eight hours working to put a fire out in a thatched home in a tiny hamlet.

Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue said several appliances were sent to Bassus Green, Walkern, at 19:30GMT on Friday.

Henry Pryor, an eyewitness, praised firefighters who turned out in "significant force" to tackle his neighbour's blaze.

The home was severely damaged and part of the roof collapsed. No one was injured, the service confirmed.

Most of the thatched roof and the first floor was destroyed in the fire

Andy Hall, incident commander for the fire service, who attended, said: "The first crew and fire appliance on scene were faced with a well-developed fire involving 90% of the thatched roof.

"Crews worked extremely hard to undertake initial salvage operations which had to be ceased due to the collapse of part of the roof."

Crews worked through Friday night into Saturday morning to tackle the blaze

There were no reported injuries and it was not thought to be deliberate, he added.

A number of crews, including part-time firefighters, from across Hertfordshire, attended.

The fire was put out at 04:00 on Saturday morning and a thermal imaging inspection at 10:30 found that the fire remained out, it added.