Just before 5am this morning Tuesday (May 18) a full scale rescue alert was launched after smoke was seen coming from the 240ft Horse Sand Fort in the middle of the Solent.

Two RNLI lifeboats from Bembridge and Portsmouth were called to the scene supported by the Coastguard Helicopter 104 from Lee on the Solent to the royal commission sea fort that was built in 1865.

There was a fire on the fort. The smoke was spotted by the Queen’s Harbour Master (QHM) at 0446 in the morning who alerted the coastguard.

Lifeboat crews and a police launch with eight fire fighters from Hampshire fire and rescue also attended the scene to discover the smoke was come from a fire started by a Barbecue

Kamron Chazai from Optima who has owned the fort for just over six years said”

We had been having a bit of a clean up as we are having visitors coming over tomorrow to look at purchasing the fort. Three work man had been working on the site for the past couple of days and decided to have a barbecue.

MCA spokesman Fred Cayhill said:

“We were alerted to the fort fire by the QHM after a workman who’d been carry out works on the fort had accidental set fire to a pile of wood that was not connected to the fort whilst having a barbecue. The fire was out by the time the rescue team arrived. He went on to say that no one was hurt in the incident”