A FAMILY lost their home and one of their three dogs in a fire on Christmas morning.

They discovered the fire at the property in Steam Mills near Cinderford after returning from a 20-minute trip to pick up some Christmas presents from another house.

Sadly, their cockapoo called Teddy, who had been a Christmas present last year, was unable to be rescued.

The community has rallied round with donations of clothes and other items, including help from the Salvation Army.

An online fundraiser has received more than twice the £2,000 target that was set.

Joanne Barnes and her daughters Ruby and Lily Collins-Norris had been joined around 10am by their sister Meghan English and her fiancé Tommy Penn to open gifts.

Meghan said: “Some of the bigger presents were at another house mum was supposed to move into in February.

“We were out for about 20 minutes – as we went to the front of the house, we all said it sounds like someone's having a fire

“Ruby opened the door and the door fell off into the house and smoke came out.

“The stairs were gone and things were falling.”

Two of the family’s three dogs, a Chihuahua called Mitzy and her puppy called Minnie escaped, but the cockapoo called Teddy was still inside the house, some seven miles from Ross.

Meghan said: “Luckily, two of the dogs had got out into the back garden.

“We opened the patio door and the back door and again there was billowing smoke.

“We did our best to safely as we could try and get in the house because there was one more dog still inside.

“We wrapped wet jumpers around our faces.

“My mum was trying to crawl under the smoke because we could hear him insde but unfortunately when they found him, he was already gone.

“He wasn’t very old, he was about 16 or 17 months.

“He was a Christmas present for the two girls last year.

“It has been extraordinary to see the response and the help from so many people.

“People were dropping off clothes, bedding and furniture all day.”

A JustGiving page set up by Steam Mills-based drum tutor Jamie Frost had raised £4,300 as The Forester went to press – more than twice the target.

Some of that money will also go to neighbouring houses that were affected by the fire in the mid-terrace property.

The family also received help from the Salvation Army.