A DISCARDED cigarette caused a fire which gutted the ground floor of a home in Earley on Thursday night.
Pumps from Wokingham Road, Caversham Road and Whitley Wood raced over to an address in Brighton Road after the alarm was raised by a neighbour just after 8.20pm
It was intially feared people were trapped inside the property, but this was later discovered not to be the case.
Using breathing apparatus and hose reels, crews spent more than two hours tackling the blaze, the cause of which is understood to have been a cigarette not put out properly.
The property is now said to be inhabitable.
