A WOKING family had a lucky escape when a large recycling bin next to their home caught fire.
Taxi firm owner Ioan Urs noticed the fire as he was de-icing his car at Moorholme off Guildford Road around 6.45am last Wednesday.
“I evacuated my wife and children from the house and got the fire extinguisher from my car,” Ioan said.
“There were big flames and black smoke – the rubber lid of the bin had caught fire.”
Ioan said it was lucky that he saw the fire, which could have got out of control had he and his neighbours not tackled it when they did.
A spokesman for Woking Fire & Rescue said that by the time the first fire engine arrived, Mr Urs and his neighbours had largely put out the fire and had pulled the bin away from the properties.
“That’s a good thing to do – provided you are careful and don’t get hurt. We finished off damping it all down,"
He added: “If you have wheelie bins, make sure they have lids. The bin with the fire and another one didn't have lids.”
For the full story get the latest edition of the News & Mail (Feb 7th)