A fire engulfed a garden and destroyed an out-house at a home in Thornton Heath late last night (September 13), prompting an emergency response from firefighters.

Firefighters began getting calls in the moments before 11pm from Croydon residents who reported seeing massive plumes of smoke and bright flames coming from the back of the property on Boswell Road where the fire broke out.

Two fire engines and 10 crew members from London Fire Brigade (LFB) battled the blaze for over an hour and a half before it was contained.

An outhouse, neighbouring gazebo and a large stretch of fencing were all destroyed in the fire.

Your Local Guardian: Thornton Heath fire. Image: Gniewko PaczkowskiThornton Heath fire. Image: Gniewko Paczkowski

Croydon resident Gniewko Paczkowski alerted LFB to the severity of the fire, as he told the Croydon Guardian Monday:

"I was coming home with my brother-in-law and my cousin when we saw the fire on Thornton Heath.

"We were the first people to call the fire brigade, you could tell the fire was really big because of you could see it crackling all over," he described.

"We saw a lot of smoke around the Thornton Heath area basically and driving closer we saw the fire.

"We called the fire brigade and they arrived in about five minutes," Gniewko added.

Responding to a request from the Croydon Guardian, a spokesperson said:

"A single storey out-building was destroyed by fire and half of a neighbouring shed was damaged by the blaze. A gazebo at the rear of a neighbouring property and around 10 metres of fencing was also destroyed by fire. There were no reports of any injuries.

"The Brigade’s 999 Control Officers took 15 calls to the blaze.

"The Brigade was called at 2250 and the fire was under control by 0028 (Monday). Two fire engines and around 10 firefighters from Norbury Fire Station attended the scene."

The cause of the fire is as yet unknown and LFB said they were investigating.

Amid high summer temperatures and dry conditions, the Met Office says most of South East England including Croydon is at a "high" risk of fire on their fire severity index at present.