999 crews were scrambled after the fire alarm sounded at a high-rise block of flats in St Austell in the middle of the night.

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service's control room was called by an alarm centre reporting an automatic fire alarm at Park House Flats, at 1.45 this morning (February 14).

As part of the brigade's pre-planning for high rise residential buildings, three appliances were mobilised from St Austell and Mevagissey along with an aerial ladder platform from Truro as well as a whole-time officer.

The crews conducted a thorough search of the building and determined the cause of the alarm to have been from a person smoking in a communal area.

Since 2007, the internal communal areas of block of flats must be smoke-free by law.

CFRS said: "Smoking in these areas can cause fires as well as false alarms such as this which has a significant impact on the fire brigade and its resources".