A FAMILY who escaped a fire in their Thornbury home unhurt cannot live there for six months due to the extensive damage.

Anthony McIntyre, 51, is looking to re-house his family are a fire broke out in their loft, in Lavender Close, yesterday morning.

Mr McIntyre managed to escape the family’s home of 12 years unhurt from the blaze with his wife Angela, 57 and their 15-year-old daughter Chloe, who was asleep in bed at the time.

The fire, which started accidentally after their solar panel inverter combusted, caused water and smoke damage to the roof and five rooms and a bathroom – the entire top floor of the house.

Mr McIntyre said the family, including his other daughter Sophie, 19, who was at work when the fire broke out, have been told they cannot live there for several months due to the severe smoke and water damage.

He said: “I got up normally, and was ready to do some work in the garden. Angela went outside to put out some washing when she saw some smoke and called me out.

“At first we thought a neighbour was having a bonfire. Then we saw smoke bellowing out of the roof and ran back inside to get Chloe, who was still asleep in bed.

“We rushed to wake up and gave her quite a shock. Angela called 999 and I grabbed some essentials as we left the house.”

Within minutes, a fire engine from Thornbury attended the incident, followed by a further three from Thornbury, Kingswood and Patchway just before 10am.

“There was nothing we could do but wait,” Mr Mcintyre said. “Firefighters asked us questions to make sure no one was inside the house we didn’t have any pets to get out.

“The house is in a really bad state – we’ve been told we can’t return to live there for a minimum of six months.

"Angela and the girls are staying with her sister in Littleton-upon-Severn and I am staying across the road with a neighbour to stay close and get things sorted. The house is well secured.”

He believes the fire started due to the inverter for their 20 solar panels combusting in the loft, erupting into flames and falling down into a spare bedroom.

The house has 20 solar panels which were only installed three years ago.

“My wife was only in the loft last week looking for some fancy dress things. There was no sign of any problem at all," he added.

“The severity of the damage is now being assessed – but main thing is that no one got hurt. What matters is that everyone is OK.

“I think it is important that people monitor their solar panels – we still don’t know why this happened but it raises questions as to what to look out for.”

The family, who are now looking for temporary rented accommodation, have thanked their neighbours and the emergency services for their ‘superb’ support.

“The fire service came back to us at around 2pm to make sure nothing was re-igniting, and they also offered us a consultation with British Red Cross, who deal with those in shock of stressed”, he added.

“It was good to know they were there to help.”

Neighbour Brian Mannering, 72, who Mr McIntyre is currently staying with, described the flames coming out of the house as “incredible.”

 “I was supposed to be helping out Anthony in the morning with some guttering when I got a knock on my door from Angela, right after they’d escaped,” he said.

“We stood far back but we could feel the strength of the smoke, and hear popping noises of tiles shattering from the inside out.

“There were flames of around 20ft high – I’ve never seen them like that before, they were so intense.

“I feel so sorry for the family.  Many neighbours couldn’t sleep that night.

“It’s taught us a valuable lesson about making checks and learning about what you have to do with things like solar panels.”

He has commended the fire service for offering support to the whole street after the incident.

“When the firefighters returned later in the day, they handed out some leaflets and gave some information about free checks available and also about fire alarms,” Mr Mannering added.

An Avon and Somerset spokesman said: “Firefighters in breathing apparatus worked to tackle the fire using jets and hose reels.

“When the blaze was brought under control a positive pressure ventilation fan was used to clear smoke logging from the house.

“It is thought the fire started accidentally as a result of an electrical fault in the loft.”