A family have been left homeless after a garage fire destroyed part of their house.

Fire crews from Wallington and Croydon were called to the detached house in Fountain Drive, Carshalton, at 6.30am today, January 12, to find a family outside their house watching the garage burn.

The fire, which is believed to be caused by an electrical fault, destroyed electricity cables and ruined the plumbing and heating systems in the house.

Firefighters were at the scene for almost three hours as the family, two parents and three grown-up children, were comforted by neighbours.

The white watch manager at Wallington Fire Station said: “They will not be able to live there for the next few weeks because the fire damaged a lot of cables.

“There is no electricity supplies, no water and no heating.

“The family were looked after by neighbours and ourselves.

“They took refuge in their neighbour’s home while fire crews did their job.”

The fire investigations team gave an electrical fault as the preliminary cause of the fire, but investigations are ongoing.

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