A FAMILY had to be re-housed this week after a fire partially destroyed their village home near Wellington and left it uninhabitable.

The blaze broke out in a garage attached to the property in East Nynehead on Wednesday afternoon.

Two fire crews from Wellington were first on the scene and immediately called for support, which came from Wiveliscombe and Taunton, taking the number of appliances at the scene to four.

As the firefighters battled the blaze using two sets of breathing apparatus and two hose reel jets they realised more help was needed and a fire engine from Cullompton, in Devon, was also sent, making a total of five appliances.

The incident was broken into two sectors to allow the firefighters to better control the different areas of the site and suppress the blaze.

Eventually, it was put out using four sets of breathing apparatus, two hose reel jets, two safety jets, and a compressed foam jet, while a thermal imaging camera was deployed to check for any hotspots which may have been missed.

The garage was completely destroyed by the fire and the kitchen of the attached house suffered 50 per cent damage from the smoke and heat.

Fire investigators said the cause of the blaze was accidental.

Arrangements then had to be made to re-home the people living in the property.