Kennel worker Josh Clark has lost all of his possessions when a fire broke out in his flat on Monday afternoon.

The 21-year-old was working in the yard of the Avon Vale Hunt at Spye Park near Bromham when he smelled smoke and then saw flames coming from the roof of the flat above the kennels.

He and a colleague immediately let the 100 fox hounds out of their kennels and took them to safety in a nearby paddock.

Mr Clark, the hunt’s second whip, said: “The dogs weren’t upset, they were just excited at being let out. They go into the grass yard on a regular basis so it wasn’t unusual for them.

“I tried to go into the flat but the smoke was too bad so I wasn’t able to get anything out. I have lived there for about 18 months and everything has been damaged by smoke. It is quite upsetting to see everything spoilt. All my clothes and other things like my laptop have been affected.”

Mr Clark rang 999 as soon as he saw the smoke and three fire appliances were called to the scene.

Devizes station commander Pip Flowers said: “The fire was contained in the bathroom. It appeared to have started in an extractor fan, which had melted and dropped down. We were there for a couple of hours including the clearing up.”

Mr Clarke has been employed at the hunt for four seasons and lives alone in the flat. He said: “I am not quite sure where I am going to be living now. I have spent the last couple of nights on a mate’s sofa.”

The kennels and welfare of the hounds and horses is overseen by Avon Vale’s joint master and huntsman Stuart Radbourne while day-to-day running is organised by first whipper-in Charlie Thomas, assisted by Mr Clark who joined the Avon Vale as part of a bursary scheme to help young people into work.

Mr Radbourne said: “We would like to thank the fire service.

"Josh came to us a teenager on a bursary and it has been good to see him work through the ranks. A lot of our work is to do with maintaining the countryside.”