Angela Bassett is no longer a fan of home fires after double blaze drama

Actress Angela Bassett has vowed to stop lighting cosy fires at home, because she hates having to call emergency services to come and put them out.

The What's Love Got To Do with It star, who plays a top cop in new TV hit 9-1-1, should have learned her lesson years ago when she sparked up a blaze in her fireplace and risked losing her home - but the same thing happened last year (17).

"There's something really inviting and enchanting about a fire until it goes wrong," Angela tells WENN, recalling her blazing dramas. "It had to be Duralogs (firestarters) and some kindling. We were just trying to set the atmosphere, setting the mood, setting the tone and having a glass of wine and chilling.

"You would think I had learned because around '93, when I was doing (Tina Turner biopic) What's Love (Got to Do with It), I bought a condo and I had a fireplace in there, so I tried to set a fire there. I didn't know about the flue and opening that, so there was smoke around the room and around the fireplace!

"So I thought I had learned that lesson. That was my second fireplace, where I called 911 and I'm sworn off of them! Me and fireplaces are not too good. I like the electric ones. Just flip the switch."

Meanwhile, Angela has a new-found respect for emergency service workers after spending time with police officials to prepare for her TV role.

"They really are just regular folk that you may just, like, sit with and have a meal with, and have fun," she explains. "The lieutenant that I spent time with was open, loving and sharing with a real desire to help others. She was lovely and could've been an undercover agent, because you would not believe that she was a 24-year veteran in the L.A. police department."