FIRE crews from Whitchurch, Prees and Wellington were scrambled to Alkington Hall where fire had broken out in an airing cupboard on Monday evening.
Smoke was spotted inside the grade II * listed house on Alkington Road, the home of Cllr Elaine Fearnall and her husband John, just after 5.30pm.
Whitchurch fire station officer Mike Beach said it is believed the blaze was caused by a loose electrical connection on the immersion heater in the airing cupboard.
“When we arrived all the airing cupboard was on fire and flames were spreading upwards,” he said.
“If we had been 15 minutes later it would have been a serious fire and the roof would have been lost.
“The fire drew the flames upwards like a chimney effect into the attics. It could have ignited the day before and been smouldering in the airing cupboard.”
Mr Fearnall and sons Charlie and Richard were throwing water upwards into the attic as firemen arrived and were sent into the smoke-logged roof space wearing breathing apparatus.
“Some timbers ignited in the attic and fire crews had to cut some beams away. We got a hose reel jet up there and in the bathroom,” added Mr Beach.
“We put props in the kitchen and first floor and I sent for the rescue tender from Wellington as a precaution, and I needed electrical equipment to give us light as we knocked out the electrics.”
The Incident Commander from Shrewsbury also attended to monitor the operation.
Fire crews left at 9.30pm and returned with heat seeking thermal imaging cameras early yesterday (Tuesday) morning to check for fire between the beams.
The fire investigating officer took over an hour to find the cause of the blaze at the property, parts of which date from 1592.
There has been extensive damage to the bathroom, airing cupboard and the attic area.
Richard Fearnall said yesterday: “We are very lucky it was caught in time. Father was brilliant as he put the bath taps on and got water onto the fire quickly.
“The fire brigade were fantastic, there were four teams here at one point and they did a great job.
“There’s quite a lot of water around this morning but we are managing to clear it all up.”