Fire officers were given valuable advice about tackling fires in thatched properties when a master thatcher Matt Williams called in this week.

He visited the fire training centre at Hopton Industrial Estate in Devizes on Monday to demonstrate techniques for removing blazing thatch.

Fire officer Tom Brolan said: “Thatch fires are our nightmare. You know that you’re in for the long haul with between ten and 20 appliances for up to two days.

“Although new thatched buildings have to be fitted with fire retardant boarding under the thatch, conservation officers do not look kindly on applications to remove thatch from older properties to have boarding installed underneath it.”

Mr Williams said the biggest problem facing firefighters working to create a four-foot fire break in a burning roof is the wire netting covering the thatch, which insurers insist is installed.

He showed how the netting can quickly be taken away with only a claw hammer and then the thatch underneath pulled back by leaning over the roof ridge and pulling the thatch in the direction the hazel staples were inserted.

Mr Williams said: “The netting is a nightmare for the fire crews and can take them over an hour to remove. I have shown them how I do it in 20 minutes. We now know how to deal with removing the thatch at the ridge, which we have only recently found out, and it can be done in two hours.

“In the old days a thatched house would have been left to burn, because it was so cheap to build a new one. But when you are talking about a property worth £500,000, economics come into the equation.”