Borth fire: Neighbour alerted grandchild to house fire - BBC News
A neighbour says three generations of the same family were in the house when the flames took hold.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The fire is believed to have spread from the rear of the house

A neighbour who alerted a family their home was on fire, moments before the large blaze ripped through the building, has said they are lucky to be alive.

Animals were killed after the fire tore through the house on High Street in Borth, Ceredigion, on Friday.

Neighbour James Davies said he banged on the door shouting "fire" after seeing flames going up the veranda.

"If they had opened the back door they would have all been dead," he said.

"The fireball would have gone in, and the smoke, there was 2,700 litres of heating oil there," he said.

A major incident was declared, with nearby homes evacuated and residents taken to a community centre as the blaze took hold at 15:33 BST on Friday, due to concerns about gas cylinders on the property.

Mr Davies, who lives on the High Street, told BBC Radio Wales he called 999 after seeing flames starting to go up an electricity pole.He said he then realised no-one had come out of the house.

"I knocked the door, shouted through the letterbox "fire, fire" nobody responded so I thought they may be out," he said.

The blaze could be seen by passengers on passing trains

"At the same time a delivery driver came running over, he slammed the door, there was three generations of a family in there."

He said the grandchild came to the door and they told them to tell their father to get everyone out as the house was on fire, and they all escaped.

Mid and West Fire Service said no one was hurt in the blaze, but a dog and caged birds were killed.

"The house is a burnt out shell, they have lost everything," Mr Davies said.

"The fire spread incredibly rapidly, if it happened at night or I hadn't just by luck happened to be at the back of the house, I think you would be reporting today the death of three generations."

An investigation into the cause of the fire is taking place.