SUNLIGHT shining through the window of a house sparked a blaze in Sibford Gower.

A passer-by raised the alarm at around 4.15pm on Friday and firefighters rushed to the village to find smoke billowing from the home.

Fire crews from Banbury and Chipping Norton used breathing apparatus to enter the house and a thermal imaging camera to find the source of the blaze on the first floor.

Once the flames were doused, the home was ventilated using high pressure fans.

Specialist fire investigators found that the blaze was sparked by the sunlight shining directly onto flammable materials.

Incident Commander Simon Piper from Banbury Fire Station warned neighbours about the dangers of leaving anything flammable in direct sunlight.

He said: "During the summer months, people should be reminded of the potential fire hazard of flammable materials if they are left in areas that receive direct sunlight, fortunately the resident of the property followed the Fire Service advice and had working smoke alarms."