Family of four flee blazing house near Oswestry

The central heating oil tank at the house in Trefonen exploded, sending flames shooting across the driveway.

Marcia and Paul Woddy ran to their children, sleeping upstairs, and got everyone outside, where they then had to escape from the garden by going across fields to safety.

As they salvaged what little they could from the house, badly damaged in the blaze, the couple praised the fire service and the local community for their help.

Mrs Woddy said: "We were watching television and we heard an explosion. We saw the smoke and flames reflected in the car outside and knew immediately what had happened. We ran upstairs and got the children and managed to get out. I grabbed my phone to ring 999."

Once in the garden she said they realised they could not get out onto the lane through the drive.

"We had to go across the fields at the back of the house," she said.

Neighbours who also heard the explosion ran to help the family and took in the couple's son and daughter, aged six and 10.

It took just 10 minutes for the first fire crew to arrive at the scene from Oswestry. They were joined by crews from Ellesmere and Baschurch.

"It was only 10 minutes but it felt like 10 hours," Mrs Woddy said.

The explosion happened at about 10pm on Sunday at the house in Old Post Office Lane. Firefighters had to put on breathing apparatus to fight the flames and successfully stopped the fire from spreading to neighbouring homes.

She added: "We were worried about one of our elderly neighbours but he had been able to get out."

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said the blaze spread to the roof of the house, which was destroyed.

Mrs Woddy said: "The firefighters were brilliant and the Red Cross vehicle which also attends fires also arrived to offer us any help. We were lucky that we had friends and neighbours looking after us but it is a wonderful service that I didn't know about."

"People in the village have been so kind, arriving with clothes for us all and offers of all kinds of help. We have been given clothes, food, the offer of accommodation, everyone had been so helpful."

She said most of the family's possessions not destroyed had been badly damaged by smoke or water from the firefighting operation.

Mrs Woddy added: "The only thing that matters is that we were all able to get out safely, that the children are safe."

Fire investigation officers were at the home on Monday trying to find out what caused the explosion.