FIREFIGHTERS are continuing their investigations today after a blaze broke out in a bedroom of Ipswich Hospital’s Woodlands mental health unit.

Four fire crews from Ipswich, a control unit and a support appliance from Woodbridge were sent to the Heath Road site just after 6pm on Friday.

Phil Embury, assistant chief fire officer, said: “It is too early to say (what caused the fire) at this point in time.

“Because of the nature of the building and occupants we need to make sure we cover every cause – so that is under investigation.

“It was a relatively small fire in one of the bedrooms – it didn’t cause extensive damage.”

The blaze was extinguished by firefighters using one hosereel at 7.15pm on Friday.

A spokeswoman for the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust added: “We can confirm that there was a small fire in a bedroom yesterday evening at our Ipswich inpatient unit. Nobody was hurt in the incident.

“There was some damage to the bedroom but no other part of the building was affected.

“We continue to work with Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service in investigating the fire.”

Friday’s fire comes just weeks after fire crews were called to Woodlands Unit after a patient set light to a bed with a cigarette lighter.

It was alleged a fire alarm was ignored eight times before a patient was discovered lying unconscious in a smoke-filled room.