A woman had to escape through the window of her home after an overheating charger set fire.
Binmen were outside the property at about 6.40am on Wednesday when they heard a smoke alarm going off.
They called emergency services, who discovered a "well-developed" fire inside the Grange Road home in Dovercourt, near Harwich in Essex.
A woman had escaped through a ground floor window before firefighters arrived at the scene.
Crew manager Tom Jewell said: "Our firefighters worked hard to surround the fire, which was spreading quickly, before extinguishing it and ventilating the property.
“This incident highlights just how important smoke alarms are. Event if it doesn’t alert you, it will let others who are nearby know there is potentially an emergency and to call 999.
“The fire and smoke in this property spread very quickly because all internal doors were open; it’s important to close doors to all rooms when you’re not using them as it will help stop the spread of any potential fire.”
It is believed the fire was caused by a charger overheating.
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