A NEIGHBOUR has described a fire that wrecked a home in North Gorley as “chaos” as twelve fire crews were called to the scene.

More than 70 firefighters tackled the blaze which destroyed the roof of Little Thatch in Ringwood Road.

A spokesperson for Fire-Aid International said fire crews from Fordingbridge, Ringwood, Burley, Ferndown, Cranborne, Verwood, Christchurch, Salisbury, Redbridge, Romsey, Eastleigh and Wimborne attended the incident which started at 7.11pm on Wednesday night.

Firefighters used six jets, six sets of breathing apparatus and foam to tackle flames which were threatening to engulf the property.

The blaze was eventually put out at 1am.

Despite this, crews remained on the scene.

One of the neighbours on the road, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “My wife said she could smell smoke.

“She looked out the window, we live about 100 yards up the road.

“I went down there and it was chaos.

“There were so many fire engines.

“I went back at about 11 o’ clock and they were still there.”

The man said the lady who lives in the cottage is in her 50s.

“They have a log burner, they think it started in the living room,” he continued.

“They (the family) walked out in their bed clothes into the garden.

“There was still a firefighter there this morning damping things down.”

The neighbour said there were incident vans everywhere, as well as rescue trucks.

“You couldn’t pass through because of all the traffic”, he added.

“I’ve never seen a fire like this before,”

“I was just shocked. I felt sorry for the people.

“They’ve lost everything. Photographs, passports, money.”

At approximately midday on Thursday, the clear-up operation had begun on the house.

The roof was completely destroyed as were a number of the windows.

Although there were no fire crews on the scene at this point, people were working to clear the debris caused by the fire.

The road was open and clear to drive through.