A FAMILY in Winterbourne Down is lucky to be alive after their home was struck by lightning causing a fire to break out in the roof leaving it "in danger of catastrophic collapse."

Four fire engines from Kingswood, Yate and Patchway fire stations were called to reports of a roof fire at the detached property in Bury Hill, Moorend, at 9.20pm last night.


Once on scene crews found the property well alight and four firefighters in breathing apparatus used hose reels and a main jet to control the fire.


Residents inside, including a woman, her husband and their two children escaped safely before crews arrived.


The mother, Dawn, who did not wish to give her surname, said: “I was lucky, my children would normally have been in bed but they happened to be up and awake in the lounge with their dad.


"I heard an almighty bang and then I was in total darkness and the children were screaming, but we didn’t know at this point the roof was actually on fire.


“We heard neighbours shouting outside of the house, for us to come out because they could see it was on fire.


“The children ran out barefoot in the pouring rain, our two dogs got out safe too, and we called the emergency services for help.


"The crews were here for hours, the wind was making it worse so they had to tackle it from the outside.


“The top rooms, including two bedrooms, are completely damaged by the fire and the rest of the house is totally water damaged, it looked like a swimming pool in there.


"I had to stay at my sister’s house in Kingswood and we are now looking for temporary accommodation.


“Neighbours have said we were lucky to get out alive. You hear about these things happening to other people but you never expect it to happen to you.


“I can’t thank neighbours enough for their help and support. I just feel for the children and am so relieved we all got out safely.”


Ray Namdjou, 49, a friend of the family, and house surveyor, said: “Parts of the roof have been completely distorted and the whole roof is now in danger of catastrophic collapse, it’s definitely a hard hat area. I’ve told the family to keep the children far away.


“The flood damage is now the biggest problem as the fire crew had to cover the house completely to stop the fire."


Tom Gollop, 23, who lives next door to the house, said: “I saw the flash of lightning from the bedroom and heard the explosion.


“My Dad and I then saw it had hit the roof of our neighbour’s house so we ran out to help, and saw some flames so we started to shout to everyone inside to get out.


“I think they were so lucky the kids weren’t upstairs in their room, as it could have turned out to be a different story.”

Gary Weeks, the Avon Fire and Rescue Service station manager who was in charge of the operation, said: "The crews were tackling the fire into the early hours, until about 1.30am. There were extremely strong winds pushing underneath roof tiles escalating the blaze which made it a difficult job to achieve.


"The storm also led to many properties in the area having a power cut.


"The residents were extremely lucky noone was in the top rooms and that everyone escaped without injury."