Actor Richard E. Grant had a near miss yesterday after his conifer trees caught fire.

The trees at the actor's Richmond home caught were set alight at about 10.30am by sparks from building works in the garden, London Fire Brigade said.

Mr Grant tweeted: “Merciful thanks for a windless day & fire brigade's emergency response otherwise firemen reckoned my garage & house would have been toast.”

“Flat roofer's blow torch set conifers on fire & 999 heroic fire brigade arrived pronto presto & have just put it out.

"Nerves shredded. Pheeeew.”

It is thought that sparks from builders who were working on an outbuilding in the garden landed on the conifers, setting them on fire.

Firefighter Warren Stanborough, who was at the scene, said: “We received a 999 call to some trees on fire and dashed to the scene to help out.

"The builders were using their own hose so we helped them out and together damped the flames. Fortunately the fire didn’t spread and no further damage was caused.

“Mr Grant was very grateful and thanked us for being so speedy. He wanted to know whether we’d bill him for the incident, which of course we won’t!

“If you ever see a fire or have one yourself, we’d advise you to immediately dial 999 and we’ll come out and deal with the incident.”

The Brigade was called at 10.28am and the incident was over in minutes. One fire engine from nearby Kingston fire station and five firefighters attended the incident.