A MILLION-TO-ONE chance may have caused a blaze which severely damaged a bedroom at a house in Bromsgrove.

The sun's rays playing on a dressing table mirror may have ignited fabric which caused the fire at the home of John and Ros Weston, at Breakback House, in Sunningdale Road, Hill Top.

Mr Weston, who is well known for his activities with the Bromsgrove Society, particularly its local history group, which he chairs, said Ros was in the garden last Wednesday afternoon when she was alerted by a smoke alarm.

Indoors she was met by thick smoke billowing down the stairs. She ran outside and dialled 999.

Fire damage was confined to the dressing table, floor and window but the rest of the house was badly affected by smoke.

Mr Weston, who is also a member of Bromsgrove Court Leet, said: "Neither of us smokes and we have no idea what could have caused the fire. However, a fire officer suggested the magnifying side of a free-standing double-sided mirror on the dressing table facing a window looking south may have reflected the sun's rays onto something combustible."

Ray Kings, who was formerly in charge at Bromsgrove Fire Station, but who is now concerned with fire safety, said: "It was a million-to-one chance it happened.

"The angle of the mirror, the strength of the sun and the distance from combustible material had to be just right for the fire to start."