RESIDENTS have been warned to unblock their chimneys after a fire broke out at a house in March.

Firefighters from Chatteris, Wisbech and Whittlesey were called to the fire in Whittlesey Road at 12.45pm on yesterday (Tuesday, October 30), which had started from a chimney.

They used hose reels to extinguish the blaze and returned to their stations by 3pm, confirming that the cause was accidental.

However a spokesman for Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue warned: “As the weather gets colder, more and more people will be using their open fires for heating.

“What they need to realise is that over the summer months their chimney are likely to have become blocked by birds nesting and general debris falling into the chimney.

“For this reason it is imperative that householders with working chimneys get them swept before they start using them.”