A man has said he had an “unsettling” conversation with the emergency services when he called to report a fire hazard, only to be told “unless the house was on fire, it wasn’t their problem”.

Mr Simon Gilmore from Dartmouth, reported spotting a faulty light switch in a neighbouring property to the fire service, after being concerned the house could catch on fire.

He said the person on the telephone said “unless the house was on fire” it wasn’t their problem.

Last week, on Tuesday, June 19, Mr Gilmore said he noticed the house next to him on Crowthers Hill which is a holiday rental property, had “bright flashing lights inside” late in the evening.

He said he realised it was a faulty light and “knowing that electrical faults are one of the main causes of house fires”, he decided to call the lettings agency, only to discover it didn’t have an emergency line.

“We reluctantly called 999 and asked for the fire department. The conversation was quite unsettling.

“I explained that inside the house a bright light was flashing very fast and constantly. It had probably been flashing like that all night.

“The woman on the other end of the line told me that unless the house was on fire it wasn’t their problem.”

Mr Gilmore said the incident could be a problem if the house went up in flames. “I insisted it was clearly an electrical fault and asked them to come and check it out.”

However, allegedly the emergency responder repeated: “If the house isn’t on fire we can’t do anything about it.” The lady told Mr Gilmore to contact Western Power Distribution instead.

WPD said it wouldn’t be able to get into the property and if the mains power switch was inside there would be nothing that could be done.

At this point, at 1.45am Mr Gilmore realised he had the owners telephone number and sent a message and was “amazed” to get a reply at such an early hour.

The owner called WPD to pass over the key code so an engineer could get into the property.

Around 45 minutes later an engineer arrived and switched off the faulty lamp which had been left on.

According to Mr Gilmore, the engineer said: “It could have easily sparked and then probably a fire could have started.”

“With all the houses attached to each other in a narrow street, it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to calculate the immense amount of damage a house fire in our street would have caused” added Mr Gilmore.

A spokesman from Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said: “The gentlemen called Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service to report a flashing light at the back of his neighbour’s property.

“He was robustly asked on several occasions and was able to confirm there was no fire within the building.

“The gentlemen was advised to contact an electrician, he challenged where he might contact one and was advised to contact WPD.”

However, Mr Gilmore expressed his anger that the fire department did not respond. “They are happy to send a fire engine for a seagull stuck on a roof or a cat up a tree, but a potential fire risk is of no importance.

“I think they need to have a serious chat to themselves and change their attitude and their fire response policy pretty damned quick.

“It’s another example of cost cutting stupidity. If they had checked the house out, secured the situation and prevented any risk of fire, they wouldn’t have to risk sending in firefighters if actually the house had caught fire.”

A spokesman from WPD said: “Western Power Distribution were called to the property to investigate if there was a network fault causing the flickering light.

“Our Engineer carried out a safety check and offered the customer reassurance that the flickering was in fact a faulty lightbulb.

“We always put safety first and understand the concerns raised by the neighbour.”