Devastating Chapel St Leonards house fire leaves young family with nothing but their passports

A young family have been left with nothing but their passports after an accidental fire ripped through their home on the Lincolnshire coast. Fire crews were called to Buckingham Drive in Chapel St Leonards just after 3pm on Sunday, June 9.

The fire started in the middle garden of three bungalows and spread to its neighbouring properties. Six properties in total were damaged by the fire in some way, with two of them left no longer habitable. Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue say it was caused by "spontaneous combustion of compostable materials".

One of the bungalows which was completely destroyed was the home of Mccorley Booth, Chelsea Moore and their three young children aged seven, five and one. They were able to escape the property unharmed - as were their neighbours - but were only able to retrieve their passports.

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A JustGiving fundraiser has been set up to support the family who are currently looking for somewhere to stay. Speaking on the family's behalf, best friend Shannon Elliott, from Hogsthorpe, said: "They're desperately in need of a roof over their heads.

"They've been overwhelmed with donations and we are all so thankful for people's generosity. The Chapel St Leonards community has really pulled together."

In the fundraiser, the property landlord, Simon Vann, wrote: "Today a young family lost their home due to no fault of their own, there was a fire at a house in Chapel St Leonards."

He added: "This was someone's house, someone's home, and now it has gone. This was a house fire that started in a neighbouring property in the garden and spread to their home, my house.

"They have lost everything, they have three young children and one on the way so this is devastating for them. If anyone can help, please please let me know."

Helen Gridley, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue divisional commander, told BBC Radio Lincolnshire that nobody was residing in the bungalow where the fire started. She said: "Unfortunately we have two properties that are no longer habitable, one property that has some external damage and three properties with damage to the rear of their gardens such as fencing and sheds.

"Sometimes if you get a pile of compostable materials, there is an ability for it to spontaneously combust. It doesn't need a lot of heat, it depends what the materials consist of. This was the bungalow where nobody resides in at this moment in time.

"Unfortunately, due to the weather conditions and dryness of people's fences and sheds, the fire was then spreading both right and left to the adjoining properties."

A spokesperson for the fire service said: "Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue were called out at 3.19pm on June 9 to a fire on Buckingham Drive in Chapel St Leonards. This resulted in internal and external fire damage to two properties, external damage to a further property and three more properties with damage within the gardens.

"The cause was accidental and started in one of the gardens. We had six fire crews in attendance to extinguish the fire. There were no injuries thankfully."