It was a normal Sunday night for Telford couple Clint and Emma Hall, who threw their children’s school uniform into the tumble dryer ready for the next day before retiring for the evening.

Today this is the scene of devastation that greets them as they look to pick up the pieces from a serious house fire that claimed the life of one of their beloved pet dogs. The tumble dryer caught fire just after 1.30am today.

The family, including sons Joshua, 12, and Jacob, nine, were forced to flee the house in Nevil Road, Wellington, in their underwear.

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Mr Hall went downstairs to investigate after smelling what he thought was burning toast.

“It smelt like food,” he said. “I thought it smelt like toast but it was actually the dog’s food that was burning that was creating the smell.

“I checked the oven first as we had been cooking and I thought it had been left on.

“Then I heard one of the dogs choking so pulled open the door to the utility room – it was then the flames hit.”

Mrs Hall added: “We just can’t believe it – it has gutted the whole room, there is nothing left in there.

“It was just a normal Sunday night for us really. We put the kids to bed, I had washed their uniform ready for today and put it in the tumble dryer to dry just before we went up.

“We are lucky to have wonderful friends and family around us and they have all rallied round to help us out. The children are staying with their grandparents and our neighbour is looking after the dogs while we try and sort everything out.

“We are devastated at losing one of our dogs but we know it could have been much worse.”

The animal-loving family had three dogs – bull mastiff Keisha, border collie Jack and black labrador Maicey – in the kitchen and utility room along with two lizards, a goldfish and a kitten.

Keisha had to be put down following an emergency visit to the vets but, amazingly, all of the other pets look to have survived the blaze. The family were also uninjured.