A FAMILY of six is lucky to be alive after a fire ripped through their Poole home.

Peter Zralka, who lives at the converted bungalow with his wife and four children, was alerted to the fire while watching television late on Wednesday night.

He quickly got everyone out of the property, before calling the fire brigade.

However, within minutes flames were leaping through the roof of the Langside Avenue home.

Peter told the Daily Echo: “I was watching TV in the lounge around 9.45pm and all of the lights went off.

“The first thing I did was go into the hall and look at the fuse box, and it was on fire.

“I was absolutely terrified, I was expecting explosions from the electricity mains.”

And Peter says he shudders to think what could have happened if the fuse box had caught fire later in the night.

“I just don’t want to think about what could have happened if I’d have been asleep,” he said. “I just don’t want to think about that.”

The family, which has lived in the house for more than five years, was in the process of clearing the property yesterday following Wednesday’s fire.

Peter explained: “The house is totally uninhabitable, the whole of the upstairs, which had been converted, has gone and downstairs there is flood and smoke damage. We do have somewhere to stay.”

Witnesses reported seeing smoke from more than a mile away.

One witness, Csaba Winter, told the Echo he could smell the fire from Alder Hills McDonald’s.

He said: “I’d been on my way home, a good half a mile away, where I noticed a really pungent smell.

“I first thought someone was having a campfire, but as I got closer the smoke got thicker and you could see the flames.

“It was quite a big fire in one of the houses.”

Crews from Redhill Park and Westbourne initially attended the scene.

A Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: “The first attending appliance reported back to fire control that smoke and flames were issuing from the roof of the property and quickly requested the assistance of a further four fire appliances and an aerial ladder platform.”

Dozens of firefighters remained on scene into the early hours of the morning.