Five people with learning difficulties were evacuated from their homes in Abingdon when flames from an out-of-control bonfire threatened to spread to a row of bungalows.

Two crews were called to the blaze in the back garden of a house in Larkhill Road on May 6.

When they arrived the fire had set light to two garden sheds and a fence separating the garden from bungalows in Robin Close.

One shed was destroyed and the other badly damaged. Flames melted a section of plastic guttering on one of the bungalows and a rear window was damaged by the heat.

Fire officers asked the residents of the bungalows to leave as a precautionary measure. They were taken to Stowford House at Shippon, a residential home that cares for people with learning difficulties and returned to their homes three hours later.

Abingdon firefighter Marcus Reay said: "Quick and decisive action by firefighters ensured that all the residents in the nearby homes were lead to safety.

"Fortunately we were able to prevent the fire from spreading to their homes. The fire got out of control because it had been left unattended for two minutes and was too close to a garden shed."

The bungalows, funded by a local authority social housing grant through the Vale of White Horse District Council, were opened last year.