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Daily Record
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Jasmine Norden & Chloe Burrell

Heartbroken family left with nothing after horrifying fire destroys their home

A young family have been left with nothing after a horrifying blaze destroyed their entire home.

Josh Catchpole, 24, said that he and his partner Grace, 30, are "devastated" by the loss, that has taken both their home and all of their possessions.

The Bradford couple and their baby son Cory are now living in Josh's stepdad's spare room while they rebuild their life and home of four years, Yorkshire Live writes.

Josh said: "We've lost everything. All we have left is the clothes we had on our back when we ran out.

"It's devastating and felt so hopeless for us. Everyone we know was calling to see if we were okay and all we could feel was numb.

"Cory is really struggling. It was really hard for him, especially the first few days, when he was waking up in a bed and a room that wasn't his own."

The fire destroyed the family's house beyond repair (Yorkshire Live)

On Monday, March 21, Josh and Grace were sitting on the floor in their living room playing with Corey when they heard a bang from the kitchen that sounded "like plates were falling". They ran next door to see what had caused the noise and found a small fire in the corner of the kitchen.

"I turned to get something to try extinguish it but within seconds it had spread to the cabinets and kept going," Josh said.

"We had to grab Cory and get out of the house because it was spreading so fast. By the time we got outside it had blown the kitchen window off and the whole house went up in flames. All we could do was watch."

More of the damage to the house (Yorkshire Live)

Josh, who works at a gaming café in Bradford, and Grace called the fire brigade, but the fire spread too quickly to salvage any of their possessions.

It's not known exactly how the fire started and has been put down as an accident - Josh said the best guess they were given was that it was due to a faulty toaster, but they have no way of knowing for sure.

Josh's mum Marie said Josh didn't even have anything on his feet when they had to run from the fire. Pictures of the inside of the house afterwards show the downstairs completely blackened and burnt by the blaze.

The young family are currently going through the motions trying to claim on their home insurance, but have nothing in the meantime and are all staying at Josh's stepdad's house.

Afterwards it was too unsafe for Josh and Grace to even go look upstairs (Courtesy of Josh and Grace's letting agent)

Marie has set up a GoFundMe page for her son and daughter-in-law to help them get back on their feet and rebuild their lives. So far it has raised £650, but their goal is £2,000.

Josh added: "We were allowed to go inside and have a look for anything left afterwards, but there was nothing. We weren't even able to go upstairs because it was too unsafe.

"We're getting by - we're lucky because our family has been really supportive in trying to help us get back on our feet. We're so thankful for anyone that wants to try and help us rebuild."

To donate to help Josh, Grace and Cory you can visit their GoFundMe page here.

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