Family houses destroyed in blaze

Eight fire engines from Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, and Surrey Fire and Rescue Service, all rushed to the scene and took five hours putting out the blaze.

No one was injured during the fire, and Thames Valley Police are not treating the fire as suspicious.

Pensioner Pat Allum, who lives next door to the bungalow, had to be evacuated in the middle of the night.

She said: "It was about half past two in the morning and someone was knocking on my front window so I got up and pushed the blinds back. There was a policeman with a flashing light asking me to come outside. As you can understand I was quite shocked."

Mrs Allum didn't see any of the fire because she was taken in by a next-door-neighbour's relative in another part of the village.

A 17-year-old eye-witness described seeing the bungalow set alight first and move onto the neighbouring property.

She said she heard explosions coming from the area of the fire, which were believed to be gas cannisters exploding.

She said: "I saw a man rush into one of the houses to rescue someone just in time. I thought my house was going to catch on fire as well. It was very scary."

The police were called just before 2am and helped move some of the residents away from the fire, and cordoned off the road for the rest of the night.

The police said the fire is not being treated as an arson attack of suspicious.

A spokeswoman for the fire service said three engines were sent from Royal Berksire Fire and Rescue while the remaining three came from Surrey's ground, including two from Staines and Egham.

She said an investigation into the cause of the fire is currently underway.

The owners of the houses were not available for comment at the time of going to press.