More than 50 firefighters tackled the blaze at the Manor House, Irestead Road, Barton Turf; Photo credit: Donna-Louise Bishop

A grandfather from Norfolk has been taken to hospital tonight following a blazing fire which is being tackled by more than 50 firefighters.

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Crews were alerted around 3.40pm today (Sunday) to a thatched building alight on Irstead Road between Neatishead and Irstead.

Group manager and incident commander Richard Dromey said the entire roof had been on fire when the crew arrived.

“We had it under control by 6pm,” he said.

“But the fire was serious and had effected a good part of the building - we lost the roof.”

Crews will spend the night “damping-down” the building - named Manor House - until the early hours of tomorrow morning.

Onlooker, former-firefighter Mike Peake added: “The roof was completely ablaze from end to end and the crew were fighting it with jets.

“It looked like it was a difficult job out there to deal with but I think they did a fantastic job. It looked like the whole house will be ruined.”

Police have cordoned off both ends of the road as a precaution and building control officers have assessed the condition of the property and announced it structurally unsound.

Mr Dromey explained: “We were worried about the three chimneys on the roof and we were unable to send any more firefighters in for fear of them falling down.”

One crew member has been taken to hospital with a slight eye injury, and another male - believed to be the only resident of the house - was rescued from the building and has been transported to hospital with no reported injuries.

Eight fire crews attended including appliances from Stalham, Carrow, Wroxham and Sprowston. They were backed-up with an aerial from Earlham, a water carrier from Hethersett, the control unit from Wymondham - with three support units - and the salvage unit from Dereham.

Crews wore breathing apparatus and are extinguishing using main and hose reel jets supplemented by a hydrant.

Investigations to ascertain the cause of the fire are continuing.