A man needed treatment for smoke inhalation after trying to tackle a chimney fire at his home.

It happened at a 16th century property in Brewhouse Lane, off Pilgrims Way, Boughton Aluph, at around 7.20pm last night.

Crew manager Neil Jones, from Ashford fire station, said: “The fire started in the chimney and went down to a log burner in the lounge.

“The householder tried to deal with it himself and suffered some smoke inhalation, so we called an ambulance to get him checked over.

“He did the right thing and shut off the log burner so by the time we got there, the fire had burnt itself out.

“There was no damage to the house, just slight smoke damage. We checked the property over for any hot spots.”

Mr Jones said that fire service advice would be to get any chimneys swept now before the cold weather sets in.

“If you do have a chimney fire, get everyone out of the property and let us deal with it,” he added.

The man, who was in his mid 40s, was at the house with his wife. He did not need hospital treatment.

Fire crews were there for about an hour.