A FAMILY made homeless after their house went up in flames won’t be able to return for months.

Fire experts still don’t know what caused the blaze in the terraced house in Mellow Purgess, Laindon, last Wednesday morning at about 10.15am.

The family who live in the property were due to go on holiday the day after the fire, and will have to move into temporary accommodation when they return.

The roof collapsed as fire spread through one of the bedrooms and into the loft.

The house, which is owned by Basildon Council, was too unsafe for the family of four to return to.

A Basildon Council spokesman said: “The property has been secured, closed off and security measures have been put in place. The council is urging long-term support for the family while they are on holiday and will provide temporary accommodation when they return.

“It will be considerable time before the family gets back. I would say it will be a few months at least.”

A total of 22 firefighters from Basildon, Brentwood and Orsett worked to tackle the blaze for more than two hours.

Thick smoke covered Laindon through the morning while the fire took hold.

Lee Corke, Basildon station manager, said: “It was quite significant.

We had what we call a fully developed fire in the bedroom upstairs which means there were flames coming out of the bedroom window.

“A young boy was downstairs during the fire and his brother told him to get out.

“This particular fire was quite intense, with it spreading to adjacent properties, so we had to contain it.

“The investigation is ongoing but we don’t believe it to be suspicious.”