Sunderland man warns of the dangers of fireworks after they cause blaze at his home

Ian Goodchild, 37, wants to highlight the dangers of the devices after his garden shed was burnt down by a stray firework on Thursday.

Firefighters from Sunderland and North Moor were called to Mr Goodchild's homeon Laburnum Road, Sunderland, at 10:17pm after a stray firework set his wheely bin in fire which then spread to his shed.

The incident destroyed his shed and now he is faced with around £2,000 worth of repairs to replace the shed and its contents, which included a washing machine and freezer.

Mr Goodchild said: "I got in from work at 7.30pm then went to bed at 10pm when I heard a large explosion at 10.10pm followed by two of my neighbours from either side banging on our front door to make us aware our yard was on fire.

"They helped to control the fire with garden hoses until the fire brigade, and we are so grateful we have neighbours like this.

"I was impressed by the bravery of my neighbour Neil, who climbed onto our roof to douse the flames with a hose from directly up above, whilst I was putting our hose on from the bottom.

"The fire brigade came up with the conclusion that it was a stray firework considering this time of year.

"The firework must have set our wheelie bin on fire in our back yard at the time of the incident."

Firefighters used one hose reel jet and a thermal imaging camera to tackle the blaze.

Mr Goodchild added: "Unfortunately for ourselves we have to pay £500 excess for buildings and contents cover to repair the damage which was extensive considering it was contained in a small area - but a lot of items were damaged.

"The damage it has caused is around £2,000 as sheds, washing machine , freezer, and tools were all lost."