Firefighters scaled a roof to save a “very old house in the middle of a forest” from fire after a burning log got stuck in its chimney.

Crews from Epsom and Esher fire stations had to fight the “difficult” chimney fire from both ends at a house in The Avenue off Kingston Road between Malden Rushett and Leatherhead.

The two stations were called to the fire at about 7.30pm and spent nearly three hours dislodging a burning log and spraying water from hose reels down the chimney from the roof.

A firefighter from Epsom fire station said: “We put a rod up there to remove the burning log to expose the chimney itself and to remove a lot of the embers that were stuck.

“Then we had to fight the fire from the very top down.

“It was a bit difficult, but we saved the property. It was a very old house in the middle of a forest.”