Cheltenham family return from holiday after fire hits home
A FAMILY was forced to cut short their overseas holiday when a blaze ripped through their Cheltenham home.
The family returned to their detached house in Fiddlers Green Lane to find the almost the whole of the ground floor had been destroyed in a fire.
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A front view of the house
A passer-by raised the alarm shortly before 2am on Saturday when he spotted flames bursting from the empty home.
Two fire crews from Cheltenham, made up of 10 fire fighters, were called to the two-storey property immediately. The blaze took nearly four hours to put out.
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A nearby resident, who did not want to be named, said he awoke to shouting.
"I heard this chap running by and I got up and saw he was yelling 'fire' and 'smoke'," he said.
"I came down in my dressing gown and the whole area was flooded with smoke outside and I could see flames reaching as high as the house." The homeowners, believed to be a family with children, were abroad when the fire broke out.
They returned to the horror of what had happened yesterday. Friends had gathered to help and a builder was on site.
During the incident, help was requested from the Gloucester North fire station when the flames took hold.
The resident said: "When the fire fighters arrived, we went round the back and the patio doors just exploded with the pressure from the heat.
"We were told to evacuate my house and sit at the end of the driveway.
"We sat there until 5.30am when the fire crews finished making it safe.
"We had to make sure our cars were well out of the way.
"The whole area was encassed in thick smoke."
He added: "I was worried our house would catch alight too but they kept hosing it down with water so it didn't spread any further." The blaze had destroyed 80 per cent of the ground floor.
But all that can be seen of the damage from the front is the blackened windows.
Watch Commander Chris Haggar, from Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "Crews worked swiftly to bring the fire under control and limit the damage to the property as much as possible.
"The ground floor however has been almost completely gutted by the fire which had quickly spread." Police were also called to the scene but their help was not needed.
Duty Inspector Sarah Johnson said that the incident was not being treated as suspicious.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The blaze came just 24 hours after firefighters battled 20ft high flames when a barn containing hay went up in flames.
Crews were faced with smoke and fire after being called to The Tump Barn in Barrow near Boddington just after 6am on Friday.
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