When firefighters get a 999 call to deal with a thatch roof fire they don’t usually have a ghost of a chance of saving it.

But after using new techniques taught by a master thatcher they managed to confine a roof blaze at the famously haunted Red Lion pub at Avebury on Saturday to a small area next to a chimney stack where it started.

New manager Jonathan Guest was away on holiday leaving his deputy Shaun Foreman in charge who, despite Saturday’s roof blaze, had the pub open as usual on Sunday.

Mr Foreman said: “The whole village was full of smoke. We were getting ready to open when we spotted the smoke outside.”

It is believed heat radiating from a chimney stack ignited the thatch on the historic pub.

Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service received numerous 999 calls about the unfolding drama.

It immediately threw all available resources at tackling the blaze with local fire crews from Marlborough, Ramsbury and Devizes backed up by fire appliances from Wootton Bassett, Chippenham, Trowbridge, Calne, Westbury and Stratton St Margaret.

Specialist equipment was sent from a number of fire stations including an hydraulic platform from Swindon that helped the firefighters remove the thatch from the seat of the fire.

In the last few weeks firefighters from Wiltshire have been given a masterclass in how to tackle thatch roof fires by Gloucestershire thatcher Matt Williams who explained to them a quicker way of removing the protective wire netting and extracting the thatch underneath.

A spokesman for the service said the techniques demonstrated by Mr Williams had been used to remove the burning thatch.

Mr Foreman said the pub was left full of soot and smuts but after a lot of hard work starting at near dawn on Sunday it was business as usual at lunchtime.

“We were up at six o’clock on Sunday clearing up because there was soot everywhere,” he said, thanking the firefighters for saving the pub roof.

The brigade’s incident commander, Rob Wilde , said: “Our task was to stop the fire spreading in the thatch any further because if it does you can lose the whole roof.

“That was why we sent a lot of resources – so that we had them on hand if anything started to develop.”

Lyndon Martin, 28 and from London, was visiting the Avebury Stones with his mother Kay, 50, and her partner Neil Holmes, 44, both from Hungerford.

He said: “I've never seen so many fire trucks, even in London at the Camden fire.

“We just saw all the smoke and fire engines, and then more and more arrived.”

Firefighters stayed at the pub until late afternoon making sure that the fire was out and putting a tarpaulin over the damaged roof to prevent rain getting into the living accommodation.