A FATHER-of-five spoke of his relief today, after suffering a double shed fire that threatened to ignite potentially-explosive gas cylinders. Roy Russell, of Green Hill, Coddenham, was at work when his wife called him to say their garden shed was ablaze.

A FATHER-of-five spoke of his relief today, after suffering a double shed fire that threatened to ignite potentially-explosive gas cylinders.

Roy Russell, of Green Hill, Coddenham, was at work when his wife called him to say their garden shed was ablaze.

The fire, just yards away from the rear of their house, took hold at around 1.30pm yesterday.

The 37-year-old said: "My wife was upstairs when she heard this crackling. She thought it was rain on the window but came down to see everything alight.

"She called the fire brigade and it's lucky she was here because no one would've known otherwise. It was getting very close to the house."

Mr Russell, who lives at the address with his children, aged between two and 19, added no valuable items had been stored inside the shed.

His next-door neighbours also had their shed burned down but were not home at the time of the incident.

Sub officer Michael Peck, one of the firefighters who dealt with the blaze, said it could have been much more serious.

"We started fighting the fire and saw the three gas cylinders just behind the shed so we had to get a cooling jet on them, he said.

"Any fire that involves a gas cylinder is obviously very serious and there's always a risk attached to it."

The fire's cause is not being treated as suspicious, as it is believed to have been started by an out-of-control bonfire.

One crew from Needham Market spent more than an hour dampening down the aftermath of the blaze.