Forty firefighters were drafted in to help tackle a house fire at Gulval, Penzance in the early hours of this morning.

A fire service spokesman said the alarm was first raised just after midnight, the first of five call reporting the blaze.

The spokesman said: "Initially two appliances and an officer from Penzance were mobilised, en route the crew sent the message, "make pumps four".

"Further appliances from St Just and St Ives were mobilised, along with supporting appliances from Falmouth and St Dennis. On arrival crews found one semi detached property of two floors approximately six metres by nine metres, with the roof well alight.

Four breathing apparatus and two main jets were used with at one point 40 fire-fighters on scene fighting the flames.

By 3.45am, the fire was out

The spokesman added: "At this time the fire is believed to have been caused accidently and confined to the building.

A fire investigation team  was at the scene this morning to carry out a full fire investigation.