A Hereford family is devastated after a garden barbecue led to a ferocious house fire which destroyed their home.

Emily Anderson, who is five months pregnant, shared the Wyedean Rise house with her husband, four-year-old son and her mother, who lived in a purpose-built annexe to the house.

"We have lost everything pretty much," said Emily. "It's a substantial house that we put every single penny into. Our house was like a show home and it's gone. We have no upstairs at all."

The fire is believed to have started when a barbecue in the garden next door caused the fence to catch fire before jumping to the houses. "It went straight up through both roof spaces."

"Mum was here where it happened and she tried to alert next door, then called 999. We have two sausage dogs as well so she had to get them out of the house.

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Crews from Hereford were called to reports of a garden fence on fire in Wyedean Rise in Belmont at 2.30pm on Bank Holiday Monday, ut when they arrived on scene, a spokesperson for Hereford fire station said, it was clear that the fire had spread to two houses in the cul-de-sac, with the roof spaces "well alight". Further crews were sent from Ewyas Harold, Leominster, Ross and Whitchurch, aerial ladder platform from Worcester as well as the Incident Command Unit from Ledbury.

"Earlier in the day we'd noticed the barbecue next door and closed the windows because it stank, then we went out. So whether it hadn't gone out or they relit it we don't know.

"We are all alive," said Emily. "If it had happened at night it could have been a very different story. It started as a barbecue fire in the garden next door, yet we have come off worse.

"We are waiting to hear from the insurance company as we couldn't get an answer on Bank Holiday Monday. We are now waiting to hear where they can put us up. We stayed at my aunty's last night

"My mother, who has severe mobility issues, had a downstairs annexe. I am self-employed as a fitness instructor and children's party organiser, and I'll be going on maternity leave soon, and my other half doesn't get sick pay, so he needs to get back to work."

Emily's sister-in-law Laura Cooke has set up a GoFundMe page to support the family and has so far raised more than £4,000.

"If anyone can donate anything at all we as a family would be extremely grateful to help take some of the financial stress off of them whilst they are in the process of getting things sorted," Laura said.

"We are really grateful for what everybody's doing," said Emily.

"But it's hard to see the light at the moment. Thankfully, we are all alright, but I don't think it's hit home.

"My mother is not doing great, but none of us are – our four-year-old doesn't understand why his toys are all burned."

To donate to the fundraising page, go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/33mjn-house-fire.