Firefighters were called to a ‘severe’ garage fire in Onchan in the early hours of Sunday.

Three fire engines attended the blaze in the Birch Hill area of the village just after 4am.

Thankfully, all the occupants had managed to escape the property uninjured while police helped evacuate neighbouring properties.

Station Officer Brian Quirk said: ‘Just after 4am on Sunday three major appliances from Douglas station responded to reports of a structure fire at a property in the Birch Hill area of Onchan.

‘On arrival, crews discovered a severe fire in a garage connected to the property.

‘Crews quickly identified that all persons had managed to escape the property without harm, before using a combination of hose reels and a main jet to extinguish the fire.

‘A total of six breathing apparatus wearers were used in order to extinguish the fire and check for fire spread within the property.’

Station Officer Quirk also praised the occupants for keeping doors shut which prevented the blaze spreading.

He added: ‘Fire damage was confined to the garage and the property suffered only minor smoke damage, mainly due to the good habits of the occupants in shutting the doors to the rooms each night.

‘Crews were in attendance for approximately three hours. The cause is believed to be due to an electrical malfunction.

‘We'd like to thank our IOM Constabulary colleagues who assisted with informing and evacuating neighbours.

‘We'd like to remind the public to ensure you have working smoke alarms in your property and that they are tested weekly.

‘Also, make sure your night time routine includes shutting doors in order to prevent any fire or smoke travel.’

Meanwhile, fire crews were also called out at around 11pm on Saturday to reports of a carbon monoxide (CO) detector activating in a property in Westhill Avenue, Castletown.

Crews identified an issue with the central heating boiler which was then isolated and precautionary checks were carried out.