A MAN says he will be left living on a "building site" for a year after a power surge sparked a fire in his building.

Peter Wallace, of Jasmine Court in Hamilton Road, Boscombe, managed to get his neighbours out of the block after the blaze took hold of three flats on the top floor.

However, the property was gutted by the fire and further damaged by water, and many of the former residents have since been evicted for safety reasons.

Although Mr Wallace's flat was not affected, scaffolding has been constructed around the property and workmen are rebuilding the damaged homes.

Mr Wallace bought his flat three months before the power surge on October 20 in order to redevelop it and rent it out.

He had planned to move to a new home in France with his family in January, but now believes he'll be unable to find a tenant for the Boscombe flat.

"The fire has caused a lot of damage to the roof, so we're looking at a long rebuild," he said.

"It's my understanding that if you're doing a lot of walking under scaffolding, you should be wearing safety gear like a hard hat - but we're doing our best to live here.

"Nuts and bolts sometimes fall off the scaffold.

"I don't think people should be living on a building site."

Hundreds of homes were left without electricity after the power surge, which caused fires and explosions in Walpole Road, St Clements Gardens and Hamilton Road.

Many residents reported that their appliances had blown, causing smoke to fill their homes. Around 500 people were affected in total.

Mr Wallace first became aware there was an issue when he noticed lights flickering.

He went upstairs to see if his neighbours were also affected. When he knocked on one door, it was "red-hot" and he could smell smoke, he said.

"I banged on the doors and got the neighbours out," he said.

"The three top flats were gutted. People lost everything.

"The people here mostly don't have English as their first language, and a lot of them didn't have contents insurance.

"One family had a three-week-old baby. They were put in a hotel for a little bit but now they've got to find somewhere else to go."

Mr Wallace has suffered bronchial damage as a result of inhaling the thick smoke.

He said: "Honestly, I think it would have been better if the whole block had burned down.

"At least that way they'd have to sort us all out. We've got the house in France, and I only bought this place to do it up and let it out again to give us some income.

"At this rate, we'll be stuck here with no money for a year."

The power surge was caused by equipment failure at a high voltage substation.

A spokesperson from SSEN said: “We have been in close contact with all of those affected by the incident last month.

"We have made the necessary arrangements for our customers to receive the Guaranteed Standard payments they are entitled to for the loss of supply they experienced and have paid goodwill payments as way of an apology for the inconvenience caused.

"We have been in close contact with Mr Wallace to address his concerns and are working with him to identify how else we can help with his individual circumstances."