A FIREBALL exploded from a house, wrecking a family's home, when a blaze sparked by a faulty tumble dryer spread from a garden shed.
Flames 30ft high could be seen coming from the property in Belper during the dramatic incident.
Crews from four fire stations tackled the flames for more than three hours before getting it under control.
But the blaze, at 8.45pm on Sunday, left the detached house, in Milldale Court, gutted.
The dramatic explosion was caught on film by 18-year-old Tom Curtis whose home, in Snowberry Avenue, backs on to the property.
His father, David, 46, said: "It was very dramatic.
"Tom shouted to me that there was this fire at the back of the house and we went to see how bad it was.
"My wife called 999 and as we looked out of the window there was this explosion sending a fireball into the sky.
"The flames were rising and rising and started lapping at the eaves of the top floor of the house before spreading to the roof space."
He said the family in the house, who have two children, managed to escape the blaze and were yesterday staying with relatives."You have to really feel for them that the house has been destroyed."
A fire investigation has concluded that the blaze started in a tumble drier that was in the shed in the garden of the house. It set the shed alight and quickly spread to the back of the property.
A neighbour said the people inside managed to get outside and were staying with relatives.
The neighbour said: "I really feel for them, we all do.
"To have your home completely gutted by fire must be absolutely devastating.
"We're just pleased nobody was hurt.
The man, whose own conservatory suffered a badly-damaged roof as the fire began to spread, said he and his wife were at the cinema in Derby when they received a phone call from their children telling them about the blaze.
He said: "We got back at around 10.30pm and there must have been 14 or 15 firefighters still tackling the flames.
"Fire was still raging through the roof of the house and by the time the final crew left it must have been about 2.30pm.
"We stayed with a relative for the night and we've been assessing the damage to our own house.
"The Perspex roof on our conservatory is now like a colander and we're trying to sort things out with our insurance company."
Another near neighbour who lives opposite the fire house said he was made aware of the blaze when someone knocked on his door.
The man said: "It was very dramatic but what disgusted me was the way that within minutes so many people were here.
"By all accounts someone put the details on Facebook and half an army of onlookers turned up.
"There were kids climbing lamppost and fences.
"I chased a couple of them off. I just think they are so sad."
A spokesman for Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service said: "Due to the quick actions of firefighters we were able to stop it spreading to a neighbouring property."
