A DISTRAUGHT dad feels 'numb' after a devastating fire gutted his Worcester home, destroying precious momentos and his son's Christmas presents.

Ian Jack had hoped to move into his new home in Henwick Avenue, St John's, Worcester, before Christmas.

But yesterday (Tuesday), while he was out, a fire tore through the terraced house, causing serious damage.

The fire was reported at around 9.47pm by neighbours as fire crews from Worcester and Droitwich attended and successfully contained the fire which had already caused damage to terraced homes on either side.

A video supplied to the Worcester News by Ernesto Fernandez Sierra shows black smoke billowing out of an upstairs window as firefighters battle the blaze.

The inferno left a hole in the roof close to the guttering and caused extensive damage to the floor of a box room above the hallway.

The joists inside are badly charred and the walls smoke-damaged.

Much of the contents have been destroyed or damaged.

The fire which began in the hallway was electrical in nature, Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service has confirmed.

The home was not insured and Mr Jack, a former bank worker, had spent 'the last' of his cash on it in the middle of October.

Mr Jack said he was relieved no-one was hurt - the house was not occupied at the time.

Although he had been sleeping at the property he had not fully moved into it yet, spending some of the time staying with his cousin in Birmingham. He said he now planned to board up the property and go to bed as he had not slept.

The 46-year-old has lost keepsakes in the loft including baby photographs of his son (his 'baby book') and nine year-old son Noah's Christmas presents.

"I got a call at five to midnight from the police to say that I had a house fire.

"I was planning to move in before Christmas. That may not be happening now. I feel a bit numb.

"I had broken the back of it (the work) and it had started to come together. Now we have gone beyond square one.

"My relationship had broken down and this was supposed to be a new start. I will go back to Birmingham now and work out what to do next."

Despite his ordeal Mr Jack wished to thank neighbours for raising the alarm, the fire service for putting out the fire and the police who alerted him to the situation.

He said: "I'm grateful for their understanding and tolerance. Thank you to the neighbours for their support. People have been very thoughtful and kind.

"It's a little bit embarrassing. No-one got any sleep last night because of what happened here."

A next door neighbour, who declined to be named, said his wife raised the alarm when they noticed smoke in their home.

They looked up to see flames and smoke coming from a window in Mr Jack's home.

The other next door neighbour, who was out at the time of the fire, said damage had been caused to one room in his home but said he did not believe anything precious had been lost.

A hole is visible in the bottom of the neighbour's door where fire crews had to break in to fight the fire in the loft and stop it spreading.

A neighbour, a woman with two children, said: "I could not smell anything because I had a cold, but all of a sudden my children told me they could smell smoke from somewhere and then I saw the other house and that's when I called the fire brigade.

"I was panicking. If we would have gone to bed, my children could have been killed if the fire had spread to my house."

The West Midlands Ambulance Service said they were not called to the scene and inquiries by the Worcester News have revealed no-one was hurt in the fire.