Charred brickwork, rubble and roof holes – aftermath of village fire

Five fire crews rushed to Norwich Road, on the edge of the parish of Buxton with Lamas, near Aylsham, at 3.49pm on Sunday afternoon.

The home was evacuated, but it is understood one man living there went back into the building before firefighters arrived to extinguish the blaze.

Norwich Road in Buxton was closed due to a fire at an annex (Image: Archant)

He was taken to hospital as a precaution.

Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service group manager Simon Mason confirmed at the scene the fire had been in a self-contained annexe at the side of a house - and that a working smoke alarm had allowed the people inside to escape.

The road had reopened by 7.45pm, and a fire service spokesperson confirmed that crews had left the scene just before 1.20am on Monday morning.

The scene in Buxton with Lamas in Norfolk on Monday, March 15, the morning after a fire tore through this self-contained annex. (Image: Archant)

Several hours later, after dawn had broke, the extent of the damage was clear to see.

Walking up Norwich Road, lined by hedges and trees, the first clue that something had happened was a lone piece of red and white tape, sitting on the grass verge at the side of the road.

Then, as the building came into view, a more obvious sign came in the form of the charred walls, piles of rubble and the gaping holes in the roof.

Other than cosmetic damage on the outside, the main house looked largely untouched – but the annexe appeared to have been completely destroyed by the blaze.

A yellow cordon was in place, reading 'do not enter'.

Mr Mason said: "The good news story if we can have one in these instances is the fact the occupants were alerted by their smoke alarm which was working. It allowed them to all safely evacuate the property, call the fire brigade and allow us to deal with the fire.

A lone piece of Fire Service tape is the only clue there was an incident there from the street, without looking at the damaged building. (Image: Archant)

"The message for everyone out there is make sure you have working smoke detectors and if it goes off, get everyone out, phone the fire brigade, stay outside and wait for us to deal with the fire.

"Do not go back into the property at any stage to investigate as the smoke can be quite toxic."

There were no fire personnel on scene at 11am on Monday.