AN elderly man has died and a woman suffered smoke inhalation in a house fire at Landford in the New Forest. Wiltshire and Hampshire fighters tackled yesterday afternoon’s (Thursday) blaze at the property in Lyndhurst Road.

When crews from Romsey and Salisbury arrived at the scene a bedroom at the house was “well alight” and firefighters had to wear breathing apparatus to enter the building. Crews found the man’s body in the bedroom and an elderly woman was treated for smoke inhalation at the scene by ambulance staff. The woman did not require hospital treatment.

The blaze broke out at around 3.30pm. Fire investigators are now working with Wiltshire Police to establish the cause of the blaze which is not thought to be suspicious. Wiltshire police have yet to release the identity of the man who died.