Fire destroys house leaving family homeless

A fire that broke out in a Newton Abbot home has left a family with only the clothes they were wearing.

Samantha Fallon has lived in the property for 27 years but has now been temporarily re-housed in a Chudleigh bed and breakfast with her 3 children.

Samantha was not in the house at the time of the blaze, but her 18 year old daughter Chloe was inside watching the television. On discovering the fire, Chloe fled from the house and alerted the emergency services.

Firefighters from Newton Abbot, Ashburton and Torquay attended the fire at around 3pm on Monday.

The fire which is thought to have started by discarded smoking materials destroyed much of the property and its contents leaving the family with nothing but the clothes they were wearing at the time of the fire.

Samantha said: “Friends and neighbours have been very helpful and really kind and say that if there is anything they can do, they will do it. But we feel so far away from our home at the moment. It’s costing me a fortune in bus fares. I find it difficult to relax because I have so much to sort out. I have nothing — the clothes I am wearing today are the ones I was wearing on the day of the fire. We are not able to take clothes from the house because they were too badly damaged by the toxic fumes and smoke. I did not have contents insurance because I could not afford it.”

The family hope that they will be able to move back into the house and are in talks with the landlord to see if this is going to be possible.