'A lightning strike set our house on fire and destroyed treasured things that can never be replaced'

Steve Force, his partner Rachel Partridge and their three children lost photographs and family heirlooms when their house on Kitchen Lane, Essington, near Wolverhampton, went up in flames on Saturday evening.

On the night of the fire, Steve and Rachel were at home with pet pooch Sky and 10-year-old daughter, Amelia, who was tracking the lightning strikes.

It was at around 8.45pm when the family were alerted to a "massive bang", which "shook the whole house".

Steve, a car detailer, said: "I have never heard anything so loud in my life. The electrics went out, my daughter started screaming and the dog was going crazy.

"Then we heard a knock on the door. The guy who lives opposite us said 'there is a little fire on your roof' so we went outside and looked and we thought 'it is not too bad'.

"Rachel started calling the fire brigade so I went upstairs, opened the attic hatch and there was thick, black smoke. I closed the hatch, got my daughter and the dog and put them in the car.

"At this point, it had gone from a tiny, little fire to most of the roof. There was black smoke everywhere."

While waiting for the arrival of fire crews – who worked until 1.30am to douse the flames – Steve and Rachel began alerting their neighbours to the blaze and urged them to evacuate.

A spokesman for Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service said crews were called to the scene at about 9.10pm and cut off the gas and electricity supply in the area while they extinguished the blaze.

Steve said his partner was "in tears" after she discovered their family keepsakes had been destroyed in the fire.

The 42-year-old told the Express & Star: "My attic is completely gone, everything we had up there was family heirlooms, keepsakes, passports.

"[Rachel] was in tears when she found that. It is mainly water damage in the rest of the house, my daughter's bedroom ceiling has completely caved in, nothing electric works.

"On Sunday, we ripped everything out of the house and it was all ruined. It is things you can never replace, pictures of my mum who died 20 years ago, photos of the kids when we were young.

"When you think about what you lost it is horrible, but at least we are all still alive."

Steve added: "We literally don't have anything, even clothes-wise. Luckily our clothes were downstairs in the utility room being washed so we still have clothes to wear."

The family are staying with Steve's sister-in-law in Telford for the time being and have been told they will likely be unable to get back in their home until after Christmas.

More than £5,000 has since been raised through a GoFundMe page to help replace what the family lost in the blaze.

Steve said he was left in "shock" at seeing the community come together in support.

The dad-of-three continued: "I didn't think it would get near that. I didn't know until Sunday evening that someone had even set up a page.

"The love from people is unreal. Even simple things, so many people have messaged me saying 'I hope you are okay'.

"[The money] will help us replace as much as we can. We have worked so hard for everything we have."

To donate to the GoFundMe page, people should visit gofundme.com/f/family-home-hit-by-lighting-burnt-down.

A second fundraiser has also been set up for a second family affected by the fire, to help replace clothes and furniture.