A YOUNG family has been left homeless after a blaze ripped through their kitchen, devastating their bungalow. Ryan and Teresa Woodruffe, who is disabled, and their two children, have been given emergency bed and breakfast housing after escaping from the

A YOUNG family has been left homeless after a blaze ripped through their kitchen, devastating their bungalow.

Ryan and Teresa Woodruffe, who is disabled, and their two children, have been given emergency bed and breakfast housing after escaping from the fire, which started in their tumble dryer.

They lost thousands of pounds worth of furniture and personal posessions in the blaze at their home in Sandy Crescent, Littleport, on Saturday afternoon, and were not covered by household insurance.

Now they have been told it could take up to six months to find them another permanent place to live.

"It was very frightening how quickly the fire spread," said Mr Woodruffe, 40. "The kitchen is absolutely gutted and the living room is as good as gutted. Our leather sofa just melted and there is smoke damage to the rest of the house."

The couple's daughter, Jody, aged three, lost most of her recent birthday presents in the fire.

The blaze broke out when Mr Woodruffe had taken Jody and his six-year-old son, Chad, to Ely to visit his parents, leaving his wife alone in the house.

She rang her husband to say she could see smoke filtering from the back of the tumble dryer and, within seconds, a fire was raging inside the drum of the machine.

"I screamed for her to get out of the house," said Mr Woodruffe. "As I got near the bungalow I could see flames coming out of the kitchen window from the next street."

Mrs Woodruffe, 34, who suffers from neurological problems and severe migraines, was taken in by a neighbour but collapsed.

Her husband said: "She blacks out regularly and that was in my mind while I was trying to get back to her. If she had blacked out in the house it could have been a whole lot worse."

The couple had been decorating their two-bedroom housing association home in the hope that they could exchange it.

But now they are forced to live in temporary accommodation and fear they may have to give away their two Bull Mastiff dogs because they cannot afford the kennel fees and their pet insurance does not cover the cost.