A PENSIONER lost his home and possessions after a devastating fire engulfed his home.

Twenty firefighters worked hard to put out the blaze that broke out at a mobile home in Ringwood Road, St Ives around 12.40pm on Wednesday. At one point, smoke could be seen billowing across 
the A338.

 

Nearby residents, Peter and Jenny Jackson, were returning home when they saw smoke coming out of the Sunnyside Park home.

“We stopped to look and saw [our neighbour] was in there. He was a bit confused but between us we managed to persuade him to leave. The fire was fairly well-established at that point. It was coming out of the kitchen and you couldn’t get near it,” Mr Jackson said.

Incident commander Louis Minchella said fire crews worked “incredibly hard” to tackle the blaze and were faced with limited resources.

“Unfortunately, because of the location, we had significant difficulties with water supply and there were occasions when we ran out of water.

“We had two fire engines initially in attendance and they were faced with a fully developed fire at a mobile home. It had already gone into the roof space and was spreading throughout the whole property.

“Our fire engines carry about 2,500 litres of water each and we used that very quickly. We then had to collect water from a hydrant until a water carrier from Fordingbridge arrived, as well as gather all the extinguishers located around the site.”

He added the homeowner, a man in his 80s, had “lost everything” but was not injured in the fire.

It is the second blaze to destroy a home at Sunnyside Park in recent years. Mr and Mrs Jackson suffered a similar incident in 2011 when their retirement home went up in flames.

"To see somebody else’s home on fire brought back quite poignant memories for us,” Mr Jackson said.

“Ours wasn’t as devastating as this one, as we were able to keep the roof on our home. Today was completely different.”

A spokesperson for Dorset Fire and Rescue Service said the cause of the fire was unattended cooking.