A FAMILY has been left with nothing after a fire destroyed their village home last week.

On June 1 Jamie Lodge, her husband Dom and one of their two children decided to visit their local pub for lunch, when they were alerted to smoke.

Assuming it was just a bonfire nearby, Dom shortly returned to their property in Bishopstone to find it was ablaze.

Jamie told the Journal: “We’re still not really sure what happened – we were in the house all morning. We decided to take our son to The White Hart as our daughter was on a play date, the house was fine before we left.

“Just like that, the whole place was in flames, we called [Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service] but it just escalated.”

Read more: Home destroyed by fire - with firefighters on scene for more than 7 hours

Salisbury Journal: Emergency services were at the scene for around seven hoursEmergency services were at the scene for around seven hours

Firefighters, including five crews and an aerial ladder platform and supporting appliance from St Mary’s in Southampton and an incident command unit from Devizes, were at the scene on Stanley Close for around seven hours – from around 12.45pm until 8.40pm.

“We’ve lost everything – there are three walls and that is it,” Jamie added.

Dom said: “The fire department arrived as fast as they could but there was no hope of saving our home. All we could do was stand outside and watch all our belongings, baby pictures, wedding photos, and memories disappear.

“Needless to say this has been a massive trauma to us as a family.”

Salisbury Journal: The Lodge familyThe Lodge family

The family is thankful their two dogs were outside during the fire, however one cat was trapped and didn’t make it out of the building in time.

Jamie and Dom, both aged 29, and their two children are temporarily living in Swindon with Jamie’s mother, waiting to be told what to do next, while continuing to pay the bills and tax for their destroyed home.

Despite only moving in around January last year, Jamie described the house as “unsalvageable within two hours”.

She added: “We have been back to the house and there is nothing, no stairs, no roof, no memories. Dom’s even lost his wedding ring.

“We’re coping – but everything is really surreal, it’s just hard to take it all in. We just don’t know how long we will be here.”

The children, Blake, aged nine, and Adelaide, seven, are currently being home-schooled, unable to attend classes as usual in Broad Chalke.

In light of what happened a fundraiser has been launched to support the Lodge family, with the community donating money, food, toys, furniture and more.

At present the online page has raised around £3,500.

“The public has been amazing rallying together to donate things, there has been such generosity, everyone is more than happy to help,” Jamie added.

A second fundraiser was launched to help a neighbouring family whose home suffered with water and smoke damage from the fire, forcing them to also relocate.

Emily Foot, the neighbour who launched the fundraisers, said Jamie and Dom’s £1,500 target was surpassed within six hours, and all proceeds will be given directly to the family to cover essentials such as homeware and clothes.

She said: “I set up the fundraisers because I was outside with the families the whole time watching helplessly as the fires were happening.

“I knew that there wasn’t anything that any of us could do to save what was in the house and that Jamie and Dom only had what they were wearing at the time.”

To donate to Jamie and Dom click here or to donate to the second home's fundraiser click here.

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