FIREFIGHTERS battled a blazing fire at The Porch House, a hotel on Digbeth Street in Stow-on-the-Wold earlier today (Wednesday, March 5).

A total of six fire engines attended the scene this afternoon; four from Gloucestershire and two from Oxfordshire.

Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue station commander Steve Bateman said the fire had started in the extractor fan of the cooker which had caused a flash inside the fan.

"The fire then went all through the fan, which stretches all across the hotel and got into the roof space," he said. "No-one was injured though and everyone was evacuated safely."

Matt Acet, the building's office manager, said he first noticed the fire through the alarms ringing.

"It's good to know our new alarm system is working," he said. "We don't know what damage has been done yet but it's going to be a reasonably big repair job."

The fire was controlled in several hours.