Chinese lantern sparks fire at house in Wolverhampton

A Chinese lantern has sparked a house fire in Wolverhampton - just a month after another one sparked the region's biggest ever blaze.

Published Aug 10, 2013

Luckily the occupants quickly spotted smoke seeping from under the eaves of the terraced property in Wanderers Avenue, Blakenhall.

Two appliances from Merridale Street fire station were called to the scene and discovered the remains of the lantern after extinguishing the fire that charred roof beams.

The lantern is thought to have landed in the guttering and to have set light to beams under the roof tiles, at around 8.50pm.

West Midlands Fire Service took to Twitter to release a picture of the remains of the lantern:

Firefighter Robert Willis said: "The owner of the house saw smoke percolating from under the eaves. We found the remnants of the lantern during our investigation to determine the cause. It could have been a very different story if this had happened in the early hours of the morning when people were asleep."

Damage to the house was minimal but the drama revived memories of the giant £6 million blaze at the Jayplas recycling plant in Dartmouth Road, Smethwick last month.

That inferno - one of the biggest to have ever broken out in the West Midlands - was tackled by more than 200 firefighters at its peak.

Surveillance footage showed a Chinese lantern landing on the site, containing up to 100,000 bales of plastic, before it burst into flames.