Passers-by and neighbours tried to help as a blaze ripped through a Keswick home on Friday.
Described as one of the worst blazes the town had seen in recent years by firefighters, it gutted the roof and neighbouring properties on High Hill, plus a campervan.
Keswick retained crew manager Keith Graves, who has served for nearly a quarter of a century and attended Friday afternoon’s incident, said fortunately the home owners, who were initially left with just the clothes they stood up in, had been outside in the rear garden at the time.
The blaze broke out in a campervan parked on the drive of the semi-detached property at around 4pm before licking up the walls and spreading to the roof space where it quickly took hold.
The campervan had a full tank of fuel and two gas canisters inside.
Crews from Patterdale, Aspatria, Ambleside and Cockermouth and Whitehaven attended and the aerial ladder platform from Carlisle, was also deployed.
The owners, aged 80 and 78, have lived at the property for 48 years, and have thanked the people who had rallied to their support in the wake of the incident.
