Fire crews were called to a house fire in Hatfield Peverel this afternoon which was caused by sunlight shining though a desk-mounted magnifying glass.
Essex County Fire and Rescue Service were called to the blaze at a detached house in The Street at 2.23pm today, Tuesday, September 25, after receiving calls from neighbours who noticed smoke coming from the building.
On arrival, crews found the first floor of the house was heavily smoke logged.
Two crews from Chelmsford fought the fire, extinguishing the blaze by 3.04pm.
A fire spokesman said the upstairs of the house has been badly damaged in the fire, while the ground floor also suffered light smoke damage.
He said: “An investigation into the cause of the fire found that sunlight shining on a mounted magnifying glass on a desk in the landing area had led to some nearby papers to ignite.”
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