A couple have lost all their possessions after fire ripped through their Shrewsbury home. The pair are staying in a caravan at the back of their burned-out property in White Hart, Reabrook.

The couple, who did not want to be named, were in the house at the time of the fire at 12.30pm yesterday but have no idea how it started.

The 48-year-old woman said she was just glad their cat and dog had been rescued by firefighters who were tackling the fire until 5.20pm.

She said: “The house is gutted. We have lost everything. We were both in the house. My husband was upstairs and I was kitchen.

“I walked into the living room and the chair and the book case were on fire. I grabbed the phone and went into the back garden.”

The 47-year-old husband heard his wife screaming and when he went down stairs, he could not find her because the house had filled with smoke.

He said: “I then found her in the garden but the fence was too high to climb over and I had to lift my wife over. I do not know where I got my strength from.”

The man said he then shouted for neighbours to get out of their houses.

Windows on the ground floor of the house were blown out and have been boarded up. The house next door also suffered from heat and slight smoke damage.

The man said they would live in the caravan until alternative accommodation could be found.

He said: “The neighbours have been really brilliant. We are still in shock. We have not worked out what happened and we are waiting for the insurance company to arrive.”

A fire service spokesman said the blaze started on the ground floor of the house.