A summer warning has been issued after a disposable barbecue destroyed an OAP's home - eight hours after he finished cooking pork chops.
Terry Archer, 77, from Essex, said his disposable barbecue, which cost around £2.50, was cooling off outside when it sparked a huge house fire during the scorching heatwave at the weekend.
He had cooked four pork chops on the BBQ for lunch before leaving it on bricks on an outdoor decking on Sunday, when temperatures neared 30C.
At around 11pm, a fire broke out and gutted Terry's semi-detached council home which he shared with son David, 52, in Little Walden, Essex.
Firefighters warned that hot weather means barbecues take longer to cool off, creating a risk of embers spreading and causing a fire.
Terry said: "We had a BBQ on the decking as we always do and left it on some bricks.
"When I was in bed, I smelt this horrible burning paint. A neighbour was shouting the house was on fire.
"This guy made me get up and got my son, who has terrible hearing, out of the building too.
"We just watched the house burn. It was horrendous. There was a six-foot-wide wall of flames."
Terry, a widower, said the fire had "gutted" his home, where he had lived for 52 years with his late wife Carol and raised sons David and John.
Pictures show the devastated two-floor home blackened after the fire, which also caused smoke damage to the adjoining house.
Terry said that home insurance will cover most of the damage and he is currently being housed by the council.
Paul Curtis, of Saffron Walden Fire Station, said people should be extra cautious when using disposable barbeques in hot weather.
He said: “With the weather being so hot and dry, this fire spread very quickly across the decking, through screening and to the houses.
“During this hot weather, we’d advise that you’re extra cautious when using disposable BBQs, they stay hot for a lot longer than people think and all it will take to start a fire in this hot and dry weather is an ember and a slight breeze.
"Make sure they are completely cooled before you leave them unattended, you can use water to help cool them faster.”
