A fire broke out at an Oxford cafe on Tuesday night (July 4) when a saucepan of cake glaze was accidentally left on the cooker.

Mohammed Omer, owner of Karak Cafe on Cowley Road, believed he had switched off the kitchen appliance before his smoke alarm was set off by the burning mixture.

The three fire crews which responded to the incident at 10pm were forced to evacuate the flat above and close the road while they extinguished the saucepan.

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Mr Omer said: “I just left it by mistake and it set off the smoke alarm. 

“It was left by mistake because I thought I had switched it off. It can happen even inside the house.”

He said there was no damage to the cafe and claimed the incident was relatively minor.

“It was just smoke that made the smoke alarm go off and there was no fire. They (the fire service) take precaution because they must do. I didn’t call them.

“I knew that it was something very small was wrong but I can’t tell the fire brigade not to come. I was shocked about the whole thing. There was no damage and no fire or nothing.”

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Sara Ali, 42, who owns Coin Wash & Dry Clean laundry service next door, said the upstairs tenants of the cafe had rung her before they were evacuated.

She said: “Some of the tenants who were upstairs of the cafe called me because they were getting smoke in their flat.

“They said they can smell something burning and they can hear the alarm going off. They thought it was my shop. They just wanted to make sure everything was ok. I asked them to come down the stairs because I wanted to make sure they were ok.

“At the time, the tenants were worried because they weren’t sure whether there was a flame or a fire or something. But after that, the fire engines came and checked everywhere.”

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Two fire crews from Rewley Road Fire Station and one from Slade Fire station arrived at the scene to find smoke from the ground floor cafe.

Firefighters used specialist hydraulic equipment to gain entry to the security shutters and entered the building wearing breathing apparatus.

A high pressure hose reel was used to extinguish the saucepan, which was on fire.

Incident commander Jason Clifford said the smoke detectors had alerted the resident above and passers-by who called 999 which allowed swift action to stop the fire from escalating.

He urged the public to check they have working smoke detectors and to be extra careful when cooking.