Reserve firefighters were called out early today to a blaze - at their own fire station.

The part-timers, based at Boroughbridge, were scrambled from their homes at 7.45am.

But they could not get into the fire station to put out the blaze as there was too much smoke and their equipment was inside.

Instead, as smoke curled out of the building, they had to wait for colleagues from Ripon to arrive.

The seat of the fire was traced to an electricity mains intake cupboard.

The extent of the damage was not known.

Updated: 11:08 Tuesday, January 23, 2001