A HUSBAND and his wife, who was due to give birth yesterday, were left homeless after a fire at Bere Alston — and a man who tried to put it out was taken to hospital with burns.

Bere Alston fire crew and two appliances from Tavistock attended the fire in a semi-detached house at Drake's Park on Monday afternoon. Bere Alston sub-officer Colin Shaw said the roof was well-alight when they reached the premises.

'Around 75% of the roof has gone and 25% of the first floor was damaged by the fire with the rest damaged by heat, smoke and water. The ground floor was okay,' Mr Shaw said. Luckily, he added, they had managed to stop the fire spreading to next door.

Although the fire — which started just before 2pm — was quickly under control, it took many hours to strip the timbers and clear up.

Tavistock fire chief Chris Neale said the cause of the fire, which appeared to have started in the roof, was as yet unknown.

'There was a tremendous amount of heat in the roof space. It was fortunate the fire station was just around the corner and quick decisions prevented it becoming worse,' he said.

Various work was being carried out to the house, and one local workman was in another part of the dwelling when the fire started.

He said the fire was dropping down the loft ladder, which was extended, onto the carpet below.

He tried to close the ladder up to contain the fire in the loft space — which he succeeded in doing, but suffered burns to his hands and head. He was taken to hospital, but later released.

A local builder, John Gaul, was working on a house extension nearby. He thought at first that someone had lit a bonfire, then thought it was a chimney fire. But then he saw smoke coming from the roof.

He asked a couple of people who were stood outside if anyone was in the house and was told of the workman.

Mr Gaul entered the house and found the man, who said he 'had to get the fire under control'.

Mr Gaul said: 'I could see he was in shock and it looked like the whole place was going to go, so I grabbed his arms and dragged him out.'

Both men insisted they had only done what anyone would have done at the time.

Mr Gaul said he had been told later it was because the roof space was boarded that the whole ceiling had not collapsed.

The owner of the house, Simon Molyneux, a teacher at Launceston College, arrived home as firemen were clearing up.

He said it had come as a complete shock, but he expressed his gratitude to the workman who had tried to put out the fire.

Mr Molyneux also thanked the firemen, who he said were still there clearing up at 7.30pm when he left to see his wife, Stephanie — she had been admitted to hospital before the blaze started.

Mr Molyneaux has made arrangements to stay locally for the time being. At the time of going to press, news was still awaited of the birth.