A SMOKE alarm helped to prevent a caravan fire from spreading to nearby homes.

Fire crews were called to Peartree Close in Braintree at about 10.50am on Monday when smoke started pouring from a caravan parked on a driveway.

Steve Wintrip, station officer at Braintree Fire Station, said: “The incident was relatively small due to the homeowner hearing the smoke alarm activating in the caravan which was on their driveway.

“Two crews from Braintree attended with two fire-fighters wearing breathing apparatus entering the caravan to extinguish the small fire involving a fridge.

“The most important aspect from our perspective is that the working smoke alarm alerted the owners to the fire which enabled a quick incident resolution.

“With the winds today and the close proximity of the caravan to a car and their house the incident could have escalated to a more serious one.”

The resident, who asked not to be named, said she hoped it would encourage other caravan owners to have alarms fitted.

She said: “I would never have known if it hadn’t have been for the fire alarm going off.

“They do save lives.”