A fire broke out at a house in Breightmet on Saturday morning after a suspected electrical fault.

Fire crews were called to Brightmeadow Close just after 10am with a large amount of smoke coming from the property.

Firefighters from Bolton North and Farnworth tackled the flames for more than three hours before leaving at around 2pm.

The blaze is thought to have started from an electrical box outside the home before spreading through the cavity of the site.

But the fire service said police are investigating to check the circumstances.

Three fire engines and a specialist unit were sent to put out the fire.

The occupants were not at home at the time of the fire and no injuries have been reported.

Bolton North Fire Station watch manager Carl Gleaves said: “When we arrived there was a large quantity of smoke coming from the building.

"It had been described to us as being at an electrical box outside the property, which turned out to be true.

“It spread from the box through the cavity of the building and when we got there it was quite well developed.

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“The building is timber framed, which is a relatively new style of building which leaves quite a lot of voids and cavities for smoke to spread through.

“There’s nothing illegal about it, it’s just something which causes us more problems than traditional buildings made of bricks or stone, as we need to check between the cavities for signs of fire.”

He added: “It’s for this reason we had to call a specialised crew down who used what we call a ‘snake eye’ camera to check cavities for any remnants once we fully extinguished the fire.

“The occupants at the time were out, their neighbours became aware of the fire and called us.

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 “Because of the nature of the building, the damage was confined to the cavity space at the front of it.

"There was a little bit of damage in the hallway and communal area.

“Damage was mostly caused by the fire service having to knock through the walls to be able to see if there were any more signs of fire.

“But that is something that we have to do with these kinds of buildings.”

Watch manager Gleaves also gave a warning to home owners to help prevent similar incidents happening.

He said: “The message we want to put out there, as well as having working smoke alarms, is if you’ve got a specialised building construction, if there’s any kind of fire issue, any electrical fault or you think something that should be working has stopped, do check, ring the fire service as things could be happening behind the walls that you can’t see.

“If you do live in a property like that with a timber framed construction and you can smell smoke, do tell us so we can check.”

He also stressed to not overload electricals, particularly at this time of year due to the high amount of electricity used.