HOUSE BLAZE DESTROYS FAMILY HOME

Smoke and flames were spotted shooting out of an end of terrace house in North Drive, RAF Cranwell shortly after 4pm on Sunday.

Four civilian fire crews from Grantham, Sleaford and Brant Broughton and RAF firefighters were involved in bringing the blaze under control.

The fire is thought to have started upstairs at 9 North Drive, gutting the first floor and causing the roof to collapse. The other two neighbouring properties were smoke-logged.

The owners of number 9 and their two children were out at the time and they, along with the neighbouring two couples, have since been re-homed by the MOD. An investigation has been launched into the cause of the blaze.

Dave Brocklesby of Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service said firefighters managed to block the roof space to prevent the fire spreading to the two neighbouring properties.

He said: "Our priority was to make sure no-one was inside before carrying on fighting the fire."

A man walking his dog at around 4.10pm first spotted the fire, with flames shooting from the roof as the couple living at the opposite end of the terrace hurried outside. Within 10 minutes the smoke had spread to their house.

The neighbour, a airman based at RAF Waddington, joined others trying to get into number 9 to check if anyone was inside.

The RAF man, who did not wish to be named, said: "I know we should not have gone in but potentially lives were at risk, but the heat and smoke were just too much. There was no way we could get upstairs.

"It was lucky that everyone else was out at the time. If it had happened when we were all asleep there could have been fatalities."