A FAMILY with five children, including quads, has been left homeless after their bungalow near Didcot caught alight.

Fire crews were called to the home of the Lamb family in Main Road, Appleford, after the blaze started under the roof at about 5.30pm on Tuesday.

About 30 firefighters from Abingdon, Didcot, Wantage and Wallingford tackled the fire, which left significant damage to the roof and second floor.

Yesterday morning after firefighters left, Mr and Mrs Lamb returned home to assess the damage.

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They live at the house with their daughter Grace, nine, and four-year-old quads Layla, Ellen, Rose and Eric.

Andy Lamb, 36, a lorry driver for delivery firm TNT, was on the road when his wife Vicky called to alert him.

He said: “I got a frantic call from Vicky saying ‘get back here the house is on fire’.

“She heard the smoke alarm go off and thought the iron might have been left on and then she saw smoke coming out of the eaves.

“She got all the kids out, took them next door and then called the fire brigade.

“I got back about 8pm and was told that at one point the flames were coming quite high out of the roof and the fire reignited once or twice.”

Once the fire had been extinguished and the house made safe, Mr Lamb was able to assess the damage.

He said: “The bedrooms are smoke-damaged and the ceilings have fallen through – the fire has taken out the back corner of the roof.

“We have got family in the area but we will have to stay in a hotel and temporary accommodation for the next few months – we definitely can’t live here. We don’t know what started the fire – we have been having some work done to build a utility room on the side of the house but we don’t know if the fire was connected with that.”

Mr Lamb, a former driver for 23 Pioneer Regiment in Bicester, added: “The neighbours rallied round – they have been amazing – and they opened up the community centre for us. Everything smells of smoke and we have been washing the children’s toys – Grace is very upset.”

In 2010, Mr and Mrs Lamb, then living in Abingdon, became the first parents in 17 years to give birth to six siblings in Britain.

But only four of the babies came home after spending the first months of their lives ill in intensive care. Layla, Eric, Ellen, Rose, Matthew and Pippa were born 14 weeks’ premature at the John Radcliffe Hospital in May 2010. Each weighed less than two pounds.

Matthew died when he was two weeks old and Pippa died aged seven weeks.

Neighbour Clare Cousineau, 46, a former nursery manager, watched the fire from her garden. She said: “It was quite dramatic – the flames came out of the roof and firefighters had to climb up and take the tiles off.”

A spokeswoman for Oxfordshire Fire Service said firefighters were alerted at 5.32pm and arrived at 5.44pm.

They left after 9pm and then returned yesterday morning to carry out further checks.

A spokesman added: “The cause of the fire is being investigated but no cause has yet been given by fire investigators.”

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