A reckless attempt to cook spaghetti with a toaster sparked a huge maisonette blaze forcing two men to flee.

Four fire engines and 20 firefighters were rushed to Warltersville Road, in Hornsey Rise, last night after fire erupted when the men attempted to heat a can of tinned pasta by placing it on the toaster.

The lucky pair got out before the fire crews reached the scene and escaped injury – but the property was left heavily damaged.

Watch manager Adam Barnett said: “The two men had wedged the toaster on and were cooking a tin of spaghetti on top of it. Thankfully no one was injured and we managed to prevent the fire from spreading to other homes.

“There were no smoke alarms in the property so I’d urge everyone to get one today. And it’s never a good idea to try and heat a tin on your toaster, as we’ve seen here, it can be really dangerous.”

The Fire Brigade was called at about 9.35pm and had the flames under control shortly after 10pm.