This was the scene after a fire ripped through a house, leaving a family homeless.

The blaze began in a shed at the back of the property belonging to Wendy Southall in Stanley Gardens, Herne Bay, at 5.30pm on Thursday evening.

Firefighters battled the flames for four hours, then workmen boarded up the house which was left completely devastated.

Next door neighbour Terry Clowes said it had been a “lucky escape” for both Ms Southall’s family and his own.

He said: “She knocked on my door to tell me there was a fire. I could see it coming from the shed, so thought I would get a hose. But then it just starting going up and that was it.

“So we had to get out, it was scary. It just spread so quickly. We were lucky and it was a lucky escape.

“The shed was about two feet from the house itself. It burned down all the garden fences and spread to the house.

“We’ve had a lot of damage as well. The PVC on our windows has melted. We've had minor water damage and we’ve had a lot of smoke damage in the upstairs bedroom.

“We waited for about four hours and couldn’t go back in. All the garden furniture has been melted, and there is a hole in the roof where tiles have gone by the chimney.

“It could have been worse, there had been a tree in the back garden that was cut down recently. If that had been there the fire could have spread to other houses.”

Onlookers described how fire crews had to break through windows in order to douse the flames. The damage caused inside the home was described as severe.

Both sheds at the back of the house were gutted, and the outside rendering of the house had been completely destroyed.

It is believed that Ms Southall and her family have been found temporary accommodation by East Kent Housing. One neighbour returning home to see the blaze last night said: “The family were distressed to say the least.”

No one was hurt in the incident, and an investigation into the how the fire started is ongoing.