Smoke billowed across a Telford housing estate as firefighters desperately tackled a property blaze to stop it spreading to neighbouring homes.

Neighbours called 999 when they spotted smoke coming out of the roof of the property at Daywell in Hollinswood, just before 6.30pm on Saturday.

Crews from three stations across the borough, along with the aerial ladder platform, were needed to bring the fire under control.

The fire of the mid-terraced, two storey house had started in the roof space and destroyed 70 per cent of the inside of the roof by the time crews were able to put it out.

A spokeswoman for Shropshire Fire and Rescue said nobody had to be evacuated and the homeowners were already out of the property when crews arrived.

She said the cause of the fire was not known and crews returned to the property yesterday with the thermal imaging camera to check for any hot-spots which could re-ignite in the roof.

The fire was tackled within an hour.

Stuart Billing, 35, who lives next door to the mid-terrace property, said the owners were out at the time but a friend managed to call them to come home.

He said: “We couldn’t see any flames, just smoke coming out of the roof.

“The fire service came in to check our loft in case it had spread to ours but it was okay. They didn’t need to evacuate us.”

Mr Billing said he thought the worst of the damage was upstairs as the fire had started on the first floor and spread to the loft.