A DEVASTATED family fled to relatives in Stratton with nothing but the clothes on their backs after a fire burned down their house.

Jamie and Dom Lodge, both 29, went to the pub round the corner for lunch one sunny day then saw smoke drifting into the air 10 minutes after they arrived - and heard the sound of a fire alarm.

With a jolt, they realised it was coming from their house, so Dom went to investigate and found a wall of flames ripping through the living room.

He said: "There was a lot of smoke, the living room was black, the stairs were on fire, I couldn't see, I panicked. Luckily, the dogs Marley and Sausage were hiding behind a tree in the garden and shaking, but the kitten upstairs didn't survive. Everything was fine when we left, it happened so quickly.

"I thought that if it was just one room, they could salvage it, but everything went up in smoke. It looked like something from a film and you never think it could happen to you, it's scary."

Despite firefighters battling the blaze for several hours, all that remained was three scorched walls, a pile of ash - and a 1930s watch, stuck to a window.

Jamie said: "It's weird that that's the only thing that survived, and that it still works. I liked buying quirky vintage second-hand things from shops, we'd spent a lot on decorating and had only moved in 16 months ago - now it's all gone.

"It hasn't fully sunk in. The kids think they're on holiday, it's horrible trying to explain that there's nothing to go back to, we just said we had to leave for a while.

"Our daughter Adelaide was at a friend's house when it happened and our son was playing a game in the pub, oblivious, so they haven't seen the damage. The kids are enjoying it here, there's plenty of space, we feel safe, but don't want to feel like we're taking up mum's house."

Jamie's mum Gill Treharne drove from Stratton to the village of Bishopstone near Salisbury to pick them all up and bring them to her Oxford Road home.

She said: "It was horrendous and scary, I didn't know what had happened and I cried with relief when I saw they were OK. This does make you think. I had the house rewired last year, we're always cautious.

"My poor washing machine doesn't know what's hit with all these extra people here. I'm glad we have enough room for them, I don't know where they would have gone otherwise."

The cause of the fire is not yet known. The Lodges think it may have been electrical but the electrical appliances in their living room were all fairly new.

The Lodges' neighbours set up a fundraiser which raised over £3,500 and donated clothes and toys to help the family recover.

Jamie added: "We've been very lucky, people have been so kind and there are many ways it could have been a lot worse."

Dom added: "The community rallied round us, people we'd never met were giving us things. We will pay it forward to others who end up in this situation, because we know what it's like.

"If it had happened at night while we were upstairs asleep, it would have been a different story. Would it have still happened if we'd stayed 10 minutes longer before leaving? They might rebuild the house but that'll take months. We'll find somewhere temporary and hope to start again."

Visit www.gofundme.com/f/help-jamie-and-dom-after-their-house-fire

Fire crews spent seven house putting out blaze

FIREFIGHTERS spent more than seven hours putting out the devastating blaze that consumed Dom and Jamie Lodge’s home.

At around 12.45pm on June 1 Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service was called to Stanley Close for a pair of semi-detached properties on fire.

Crews from Salisbury, Poole, Tisbury, Fordingbridge and Shaftesbury attended the scene at the height of the incident, alongside an aerial ladder platform and supporting appliance from St Mary’s in Southampton and an incident command unit from Devizes.

This was later scaled back to crews from Salisbury, Tisbury, Shaftesbury and St Mary’s.

The stop came at 8.41pm, after crews had made the buildings safe following advice from Wiltshire Council building control.

A DWFRS spokesperson added: “One of the two properties has been destroyed by fire, the other has water and smoke damage.

“The occupants are all safe, and volunteers from the the British Red Cross emergency response team assisted both households.

“We are grateful to the parish council for enacting their emergency plan, as this helped with traffic management and a rest area, and to the White Hart pub for providing crews with refreshments.”