As culinary disasters go, it is hardly likely to rank in the annals of history alongside King Alfred's burning of the cakes but Tony Blair was left embarrassed yesterday when he and his wife Cherie burned some toast at their country home and triggered a full-scale emergency response from the local fire service.

Four fire engines were dispatched to the Blairs' £5.75m home in Buckinghamshire on Saturday morning after the smoke alarm went off.

A spokesman for the former prime minister said that because the 17th-century South Pavilion in Wotton Underwood, near Aylesbury, was a Grade I listed building, the alarm was automatically connected to the local fire station.

He said: "The Blairs were cooking breakfast when the smoke alarm went off. 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 Service said: "Two crews from Haddenham, the nearest local station, and one from Aylesbury attended. One from Thame, in Oxfordshire, was on its way but was turned back.

"When they got there, it was basically some burned toast that had set the alarm off, so it was a smaller incident than was first feared.

"The smoke was cleared with a fan and the firefighters gave some fire safety advice."

The Blairs paid £4m for South Pavilion, which was built in 1704, when they bought it in 2008. The mansion, which was the former home of Sir John Gielgud, has seven bedrooms, a weather-vane tower, ornamental gardens, two paddocks and a four-bedroom converted outbuilding.