A WINSFORD couple were heartbroken after returning home from Wales to discover that a fire had gutted the entire ground floor of their detached home.

Darren and Janet Lewis, of Wharton Road, found that their home of three years had been ravaged by the blaze and their cat had been killed.

They had gone to spend Sunday at their workplace in Coddington where they were busy buying pebbles for a friend's driveway.

But at around 1pm a fire broke out in their kitchen and began to eat its way through their home.

A passer-by, teenager Tina Dagleish, of Quantock Close, spotted smoke and ran to a nearby shop to raise the alarm.

Fire crews from Winsford and Middlewich, paramedics and police were at the scene in minutes.

Darren, aged 27, said: "I'm absolutely devastated about our cat Tinkerbell. It was trapped downstairs.

"Our other cat Polo was rescued upstairs by the firefighters who gave him oxygen. He ran away just after the fire but we found him and he's at the vets now.

"The walls and carpets are black and downstairs will have to be completely refurbished."

Darren's mum Glynis Stuart, of Massey Avenue, said: "I was at home on Sunday afternoon when Angela Patel from the newsagents on Wharton Road rang me to say somebody had seen smoke bellowing from my son's house.

"I arrived just before the firefighters did. They kicked in the door and went in different rooms to deal with the blaze.

"They were amazing. If they hadn't acted so quickly the house could have been destroyed.

"It's a shame about the cat. He was part of the family and my son would rather have had his home destroyed than the cat killed.

"But the paramedics did everything they could to save him. It was just too late."

She added: "There's nothing left of the kitchen but Darren's beginning to accept what has happened. Thank God they weren't at home sleeping when the fire broke out.

"My hands go up to Winsford firemen. They deserve every penny they get. Some people don't realise what great firefighters we have here in the town.

"My son's home could have been destroyed but they helped save it."

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