FIRE victims Peter and Sandra Haughey say they are relieved to be alive after a blaze destroyed their home and all their everything they own.

A freak fire tore through their first-floor flat in Westerleigh Close, Chippenham, on Monday.

Mr Haughey, 67, and his wife, 52, were out of their flat on a shopping trip in the town when it began. They were told of the fire by a neighbour when they returned.

“We were literally left with what we stood in when we came off the bus,” said Mr Haughey. “We have no clothes, nothing.”

The Scottish former soldier said among the irreplaceable items lost in the fire was full Scottish regalia, including a kilt and sporran, worth £1,000, which he was married to Sandra in, photographs, and Mrs Haughey’s Brazilian documents, including an identity card.

“She is extremely upset that she has lost those,” he said.

“But we have had a lot of support from friends, particularly those from the Ladyfield Church, so we’re very lucky.”

The couple were former next-door neighbours who fell in love and married nine years.

Mr Haughey said: “When we got off the bus and started to walk back to the flat, we bumped into our neighbour.

“He said to us ‘you’ve got no house left, Pete’, and I said ‘you’re kidding’, but when I got around the corner we could see it. It was completely destroyed.”

They have been staying at the Angel Hotel while temporary accommodation is arranged.

“Ultimately, it’s just a house – it could have been us,” he said. “It was a bad surprise, but I’m an old soldier, and so I’m used to the odd bad surprise,” he said.

Mr Haughey, who served in the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1962 to 1971, has lived in the block since 1974. He used to live in the flat below with his late wife Sheila.

Donald Saunders, who lives in the house next-door, has also been forced out of his home due to extensive damage upstairs.

“We’ll be out of here for three or four months,” he said.

“I was in at the time – I was in the living room. There was a banging at the door and it was a firefighter telling us to get out. It is upsetting, but at least everybody’s safe, that’s the main thing.”