Thames Ditton Marina residents have thanked three men for working through the freezing cold to restore power after a fire ripped through a boathouse on Thursday, March 1.

Surrey Fire and Rescue Service battled the fire for hours after getting the call at 9.10am.

Cathy Dickerson, who lives on one of the boats on the marina, said: “The power went and I just thought we had run out, so I went up on the marina and saw the black smoke. It rapidly turned to flame.

“There was a guy making a cup of tea who ran out of the boathouse. I phoned the fire brigade and made sure people got out of their boats.

“It was a shock, but it was quickly apparent that no one was going to be injured. Once everyone got over the shock, people are just a bit annoyed, because we still don’t know why it happened.”

Read our story from on the day here.

The fire was under control just before 1pm, after which three men spent all of that day and Friday in the freezing cold working to restore power to the marina.

Ms Dickerson said: “Everybody is grateful. One of the men lost his motorbike, his leathers, his helmet, and lots of his belongings. We’re really grateful but feel sorry for him especially.”