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A woman nearly burnt her own house down after starting a fire to try and smoke out bees.

Firefighters battled for more than four hours to save the property in Cambridgeshire after the attempt went disastrously wrong.

Bees had nested at the top of the woman's chimney.

She lit a fire in the grate in a bid to smoke them out.

But the fire quickly spread to the chimney and almost engulfed the entire property on High Street in Manea.

Station commander Richard Dykes said: "If home-owners discover a bee or wasp nest in their chimney or at the top of it, we would urge them to get it inspected and removed by a professional.

"Lighting fires is not an effective way to clear these nests and we would encourage people not to do this."

Earlier this week a plumber told how he found a bee hive around a boiler.

And a driver in Oxford found honey bees nesting in his convertible.

Leon Hines drew criticism for taking his vehicle to a car wash in a bed to get rid of the insects.