Family left with nothing as bonfire spreads to home

A family have been left with nothing after a bonfire's flames spread to their home and destroyed all of their belongings, a fire service has said.

Mum-of-two Milly Reilly managed to escape the blaze in Tredworth, Gloucester, with daughter Darcie, 6, son Ellis, 2, and their dog Fred at about 11:30 BST on 12 August.

No-one was injured in the incident and the family are now staying with friends and family. They have no timeline for how long repair work might take before they can move back into their privately rented home.

Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service said it is believed a bonfire caught the rear of the two-storey property and spread to inside the home.

Reilly said she was watching a film with her children in their living room when she heard neighbours banging on her door.

"Two or three doors down a woman's young daughter was going down a slide and said 'mummy, there's a fire over there' and then she must have looked over and realised the whole back of our house was on fire," she said.

"There was just a big group of my neighbours outside.

"They ran back inside with me and just scooped up the children," she added.

"The thing that's done the most damage to the house was the actual smoke damage," she added.

When allowed back into the property, Reilly said she was in "complete shock" to see everything had turned black.

However, she said the support of her friends, family and community has been "absolutely amazing".

"My parents have been amazing and my group of friends too. They've done absolutely everything for me," she added.

Friend of the family, Abbie Wilson, said everyone had taken on different tasks to support the family in different ways in the immediate aftermath of the fire.

"Sadly, Milly didn't have contents insurance so everything is gone. Between us we've hopefully tried to do everything we can to help," added Wilson.

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