Community raises money for family split up by fire

Residents have been raising money and donating items to a family in Kent left homeless and split up after a blaze destroyed part of their house.

The fire broke out at Charlotte Brown's house in Ash on Sunday morning, and although there were no injuries, the family's possessions and Christmas gifts were lost in the blaze.

Ms Brown is now staying with her two younger children at her mum's house in Margate, while her three older children are with their uncle.

The mother of five said: "They [the children] said, 'We don't want anything for Christmas; we just all want to be together.'"

Ms Brown said she realised there was a fire after smelling what she thought was burning paper.

"[I] tried to get the kids out of the house as quick as I could.

"The kids were all standing on the roadside in their pyjamas; they didn't even have a pair of shoes on their feet, and then we just watched everything we had go."

The fundraiser, set up by a friend to help the family get alternative accommodation in Ramsgate, had raised almost £4,000 in two days.

Some of the items that have also been donated to the family include clothing, bedding and Christmas chocolates.

Ms Brown said: "It's just everything you've ever owned is gone.

"Even their baby boxes. I kept everything, and that's all gone."

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