A FAMILY of five have been made homeless and left with nothing after a Halloween fire broke out in their West Somerset house.

Now, an online appeal has so far raised nearly £1,000 to help the parents and their three children, aged eight, six and three.

They had all gone out for 45 minutes on Friday afternoon (October 31) and returned to their home in Normandy Avenue, Doniford, to prepare for a family Halloween party.

But, instead they found the living room destroyed and the rest of the semi-detached house filled with black smoke after a charging device overheated and set light to furnishings.

Firefighters from Minehead, Williton, and Nether Stowey attended the incident and contained the fire to the living room but could not prevent the rest of the property becoming smokelogged.

The family were able to stay with relatives for a few nights and found temporary accommodation in an empty Airbnb property for the rest of this week, but face an uncertain future.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family, which has seen 48 donations in less than a week.

The organiser wrote: “I’m fundraising for my daughter and her husband with three young children. They lost everything. I know things are hard for a lot of people these days but every little helps go a long way, so was hoping for people's kindness in this horrible situation.”