False alarm

London, April 5: Three fire engines were sent to Tony Blair’s £6 million stately home in Buckinghamshire after the former Prime Minister triggered smoke alarms while cooking breakfast.

Firefighters were summoned to the 17th-century South Pavilion in Wotton Underwood by an automatic alarm system.

Smoke had started to drift from the kitchen into other rooms in the seven-bedroomed house, which was the home of actor Sir John Gielgud until his death in 2000.

The first crew to arrive — part-time firefighters from the nearby village of Haddenham — found no evidence of an actual fire.

But the incident is unlikely to have helped the Blairs’ relationship with neighbours in the village, which they moved into in 2008.

Residents have told the Telegraph about having to live with the presence of armed police since the picturesque village was made a designated security area under the Terrorism Act.

Rosamund Odling-Smee, a librarian, said: “It’s slightly better than having a pop star live here — but only just.”

The alarm was raised soon after 9.30am by automatic fire sensors at the Grade 1 listed home which is monitored by a security firm.

Control staff at the receiving centre immediately made a 999 call to the Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service which mobilised three fire engines.

The crew from Haddenham was followed by another from Aylesbury and a third from Thame, Oxon, which was turned back once the first firefighters had arrived.

A spokesperson for the Blairs said: “The Blairs were cooking breakfast when the smoke alarm went off. Because they live in a Grade 1 listed building, the smoke alarm is automatically connected to the local fire station, so the fire brigade sprang into action immediately.

“In fact it was just smoke without a fire but by the time Mrs Blair rang the fire service to tell them they didn’t need to come, they were already on their way. All rather embarrassing and she’ll certainly be sending them a big thank you note.”

A spokesman for Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue said the service could not comment.