The fire service said it believes a large house fire visible from the M25 was started “accidentally”.

Chorleywood Road in Rickmansworth was shut overnight and residents were asked to close doors and windows while eight fire engines worked for almost 15 hours to tackle the blaze.

Herts Fire and Rescue were called out at around 4.11pm yesterday before part of the roof collapsed at around 7.20pm, but the fire was not fully out until around 7am this morning (July 23).


Kings Langley Fire Station said its teams had been called out at 2am to continue damping down the blaze.

This afternoon, a Hertfordshire County Council spokesperson said: “We believe that the fire started accidentally in the roof of the building, but a fire investigation is taking place this afternoon to try and establish the cause.”

The fire service said crews had “worked extremely hard throughout the night” and witnesses praised them as having “done an amazing job”.

Eight fire engines, an aerial platform and a drone were deployed. No one was injured.

Footage from around 6pm yesterday shows the two-storey property almost completely hidden from view beneath the rising cloud of smoke as a hose jet was used.

Members of the public described the flames as being largely under control by around 7pm.

The glass section at the peak of the roof caved in yesterday evening.The glass section at the peak of the roof caved in yesterday evening. (Image: Contribution)