A BLUE Anchor family had a miraculous escape when fire tore through their house at dawn while the couple and their two small children were asleep.
Les Shackleford, his partner Lynne Jones and daughters Cheyanne, eight and Kiana, four, fled in their night-clothes at 6am on Wednesday (November 9).
The fire reduced the inside of their home next to Home Farm, Blue Anchor, to charred wreckage and destroyed all the family’s possessions.
“If it hadn’t been for the smoke alarm we would all unquestionably be dead now,” Les told the Free Press.
“Another 60 seconds and we wouldn’t have got out through the smoke.
“We have lost virtually everything we own and none of it was insured. But we are alive and well and that’s all that matters.”
Now the couple, in their 40s, are staying at a friend’s house in Chapel Cleeve while West Somerset Council arranges emergency accommodation.
They said they were “completely overwhelmed” by the kindness of well-wishers – many were total strangers – who have already raised nearly £2,000 through a cloud-funding website.
Full story in the Free Press