内容摘要：He has been a police officer since 1998 with Gloucestershire Police and then West Mercia Police.

He has been a police officer since 1998 with Gloucestershire Police and then West Mercia Police.

Shropshire fire crews arrived at the property on the A41 near Shakeford to find flames coming through the windows and roof, and black smoke billowing from the fire, while the elderly man who lived there had escaped and was being looked after by neighbours.Because of the live cables, crews made an urgent request to National Grid to isolate the power supply on Thursday, just after 18:30 BST.

West Mercia Police closed the A41 in both directions because of the amount of smoke that was moving across the carriageway, near Market Drayton.A fire service spokesman said teams of firefighters wearing breathing apparatus brought the fire under control in challenging conditions, after about an hour and 40 minutes.He said: "Despite the best efforts of all the attending crews a considerable amount of damage has been caused to property by fire, heat and smoke."

The man who lived in the bungalow had escaped with no major injuries, but was checked over by West Midlands Ambulance Service paramedics as a precaution."The cause of the fire was confirmed to be a chip pan fire, which spread rapidly to involve the kitchen and other parts of the property," the spokesman added.

Crews stayed at the scene until about 22:00 BST damping down and checking for any hidden pockets of fire, and a crew revisited twice in the night to check for hot spots.

"We wish the home owner all the best and hope that they can soon see their property being repaired," the fire service spokesman said."The team are always there to greet [people]," Mrs Barwick said.

"We've got a really happy team who are really friendly and the heart of the pier has not changed at all."People love coming here on a daily basis and sometimes it is a stop for them... they come down for a coffee and it's there means of getting out and chatting to people.

"We've got all our regulars who we love seeing every day, so it is a very special place and that's what we've got to look after for the customers and our returning trade."After moving to Southwold several years ago, the couple saw the pier was available to buy after it previous owners, Gough Hotels, put it up for sale after 10 years.