A FIRE has ripped through a thatched cottage.

Ten engines and scores of firefighters fought the blaze near Wattisham which left the house without much of its roof.

Crews from Hadleigh, Needham Market, Stowmarket, two from Princes Street in Ipswich, Halstead, Woodbridge, Nayland and Sudbury and Ipswich East all tackled the blaze which is believed to have started around 7.30pm.

No-one was in the property at the time and it is not believed anyone was hurt.

Incredibly the first firefighters on the scene managed to salvage most of the possessions form the house.

Watch commander Matt Barber said: “We have had 10 appliances and a turn table ladder at the fire. The property is a timber-framed thatched property which must be hundreds of years old.

“The roof has collapsed inwards but due to the hard work of the first crews on site all the ground floor possessions were salvaged.”

Firefighters continued to work damping down the building into the night.

Incident commander Simon Hurt praised the quick actions of the first crews on the scene for saving the possessions and stopping the fire completely destroying the cottage.

He said: “It is all about teamwork. We have done our uptmost to save the house and the owners possessions from inside.”