A FAMILY were left homeless after their house in Takeley was destroyed by a fire late on Friday night. The fire broke out at the property on Dunmow Road, shortly after 10pm and, by the time the fire crews had arrived, flames had engulfed the building. Six

A FAMILY were left homeless after their house in Takeley was destroyed by a fire late on Friday night.

The fire broke out at the property on Dunmow Road, shortly after 10pm and, by the time the fire crews had arrived, flames had engulfed the building.

Six crews, two from Dunmow, one from Leaden Roding, one from Stansted and two from Bishop's Stortford, including 30 firefighters tackled the blaze using two main jets and two hose reels to extinguish the flames.

Keith Crow, Dunmow's fire station officer, said: "When we arrived the flames were already coming through the roof to a height of about six feet on the right of the building. It was really going.

"The winds were quite strong that night and they were blowing the flames back into the roof void spreading them through the house."

After an hour and a half, the blaze was brought under control but crews stayed at the scene turning it over and damping down and eventually left the scene at 2.30am.

It was claimed fire fighters were hampered in their efforts to put out the fire by problems with the water supplies caused by a pumping station that was experiencing problems caused by the storms that hit the UK the day before.

No fire fighters were injured during the incident.

A spokesman for the Essex Fire and Rescue Service said: "An investigation into what caused the fire is being carried out but, as yet, its cause is undetermined.

"The fire has left the building in such a poor condition that it has been condemned and we have been unable to get in to find out what caused it."

A police spokesman said: "The incident is closed pending further contact from the fire service. When they can enter the property to carry out their investigations we will be able to reopen the incident and deal with it accordingly."

Jan Jones, landlady of the nearby Green Man Public House, said: "One of my customers called Mike came in and said that there was a house on fire up the road. The police closed the road at the Hatfield Forest turning."

The family, a couple and their daughter, were not at home when the fire started and were contacted by police. They are reported to have arrived at the scene at around midnight.