A SHOCKED woman has praised the Red Cross for coming to her aid after a Poole flat fire left her homeless.

Adele Lewis was one of four people who escaped the Herbert Avenue blaze last month.

Firefighters were able to save the property, but it sustained serious damage and in the immediate aftermath Adele escaped with only the clothes on her back.

“At one point when I saw the smoke, I though I wasn’t going to make it out,” she recalled.

“It was frightening. It was really hard to get the door open, as I think it had become warped in the heat.

“I was in a nightie, I didn’t even have any shoes on.”

The blaze is believed to have been started by a discarded cigarette.

Adele said: “Without the Red Cross, I simply don’t know what we would have done.

“They came out afterwards with this big bus, it looks like an ambulance.

“What they keep in there is amazing – they have food, baby stuff, you can even take a shower.

“I had nothing, so they were able to help organise bed and breakfast.

“They even waited for me when I went to the doctors.

“These people are not paid, they are volunteers. When this sort of thing happens to you, you just don’t know what to do but they were amazing.

“I want to say a huge thank you to the Red Cross and raise awareness of this service they operate. It is invaluable.”

The Red Cross Fire and Emergency Support Service has been running in Dorset since January 2010.

Visit redcross.org.uk for more information on the service and how to volunteer.