A dev­as­tat­ing blaze in Up­per Leon Hill, Bel­mont, has left 65-year-old res­i­dent Yvonne Arnold and her fam­i­ly home­less af­ter their two-storey home was com­plete­ly de­stroyed on Wednes­day af­ter­noon.

Arnold, who lived at Pole A66 with her two adult chil­dren and grand­son, re­count­ed the ter­ri­fy­ing mo­ments when the fire spread rapid­ly from a near­by area.

“Yes­ter­day (Wednes­day) af­ter­noon, around 1.47, I heard a crack and a fire. When I came out­side, I saw a lit­tle fire over yon­der. I told the gen­tle­men near­by that the fire go­ing to come quite here. Be­fore I could fin­ish, the breeze come and the fire was right up up­on me,” she said.