PEOPLE jumped from a window to escape a ferocious fire which wrecked a three-storey house.
The blaze tore through the home in Pippin Close, St Ann's, at about 1.50pm yesterday, spreading to all three floors and bringing down the roof.
Neighbours said the four people who fled were lucky to survive as the speed of the flames made the house look "like a tinderbox".
Gill Morris, 69, who lives a few doors away, said she saw smoke and people climbing from a first-floor window as she came home from a trip into town.
She said: "I've never seen such a shocking thing in my life. The flames were coming out of the windows, I've never seen a house go up so fast.
"As I came up the flight of steps at the end of the street they were jumping out of the window.
"It frightened me to death, it went up like a tinderbox. I really feel for them, they've lost everything."
She said she thought a family of four adults lived in the house.
Another neighbour, Tina Burton, 39, said she saw flames shooting from the roof when she looked out of the window after being woken from a nap following a night shift.
She said: "I saw the flames right on top of the house, I'd got home at about 7.15am and everything seemed so quiet and normal.
"I didn't realise it was happening until I got up and looked outside and saw all the fire engines."
Another neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: "It went up really quickly.
"I'd just come downstairs to make some food for my young 'un when I saw the flames and just thought 'whoa'.
"The house has been gutted. It didn't take long to get going, there were flames coming out of the roof."
David Stevenson, manager of Central Fire Station, said four fire crews and a hydraulic ladder were involved in putting out the fire.
An ambulance and police were also at the scene.
Mr Stevenson said: "We could see a significant amount of smoke as we arrived.
"Four people were in the property at or about the time of the fire.
"The fire was fully developed and that made it very difficult for the crews when they arrived to get it under control."
He said firefighters found out everyone was out and concentrated on pouring water into the house from above to control the flames.
No-one was thought to be badly hurt, he added, and no-one was evacuated as neighbouring homes were already empty.
The cause of the blaze is being investigated.
