A TROUBLESOME blaze in a chimney forced firefighters to take unusual measures in Hare Hatch on Wednesday afternoon.

A crew from Wokingham Road Fire Station were called to Castle End Road at around 12.45pm after the fire broke out a domestic cottage.

After attempting to douse the inferno through usual methods, they were forced to extinguish the blaze by using a 13-metre tall ladder.

Of the three people living at the house, only one person was it at the time and they had escaped before fire crews arrived.

The house was filled with smoke by the time they arrived in the Berkshire village, with the cause of the fire yet to be discovered.

They spent four hours attempting to tackle the fire, with their chimney equipment kit proving inefficient.

Firefighter Alex Hatcher said: "We have been at a chimney fire in Hare Hatch for several hours this afternoon at a domestic cottage.

"We were called to Castle End Road and we were there for about four hours with a fairly troublesome chimney fire.

"A call came in at 12.45pm and we only just got back before 5pm. We were the only crew to attend.

"We tried to use our chimney equipment but didn't work, so we ended up using a 13-metre high ladder.

"Rather than putting the fire out from the inside and up the chimney, we used hose reels from the top of the house.

"There were three people living in the house, although two of them were actually out at the time and the only person in at the time had escaped safely before we got there.

"The house was full of smoke by the time we arrived and it took some time for us to get to the bottom of it.

"We do not know how the fire broke out, but everyone is safe and there is minimal damage to the house."