A couple will return from holiday to find their house has been destroyed after lightning struck and set the roof alight.

Fire crews were called to the semi-detached property in Littlejohn Avenue, Melksham, around 10pm last night after neighbours heard a huge bang and saw flames on the roof of the property.

The owners of the house are Terry and Syliva Cook, who are in their sixties, and are trying to make their way home from Greece as fast as they can and have been kept informed throughout.

Next door neighbour David Mackie, 72, who lives with partner Cher Riley, said: “We happened to go into the kitchen at the time to look out the window at the lightning, heard this almighty bang, went in the living room and there was smoke coming out of the wall.

“It was a hell of a loud bang, it frightened me. It wasn’t like thunder it was like a gun going off.

And another neighbour, Kathleen Athey, said: “It wasn’t till this morning that I saw this. I had just gone to bed and I thought the noise was just thunderstorms. When I saw it I thought oh my god.

“I feel sorry for the couple, to come back to this is terrible.

“Its lucky in a way that they weren’t in the house, perhaps it was a godsend but it’s frightening, I’ve never seen it like that before.”

A surveyor was also at the scene looking at the properties as there is a major concern the side of the house may fall down.

Sam Luscombe, whose property is adjacent to the wall, said: “We had just unplugged our TV in the front room and then there was an almighty bang, it shook the whole house.

“You can’t explain it, the smell of metal was awful, it was really bad.”

Three fire crews were at the scene from Trowbridge, Devizes and Corsham, a spate of incidents in the area due to the storm meant Melksham fire brigade were called elsewhere.

Wayne Jones, of Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “The fire has obviously been affected by the solar panel on the roof, whereas we would normally treat this as a traditional roof fire, the solar panels have changed our approach completely.

“Solar panels have got a unique set of hazards associated with them that we need to consider and that’s what has unfortunately taken us time in allowing us to put the fire out.

“The incident is what it is, it is a roof fire with solar panels on the roof, that’s a consequence of the fire it is not the cause of the fire.

“There’s a significant amount of damage throughout the property and at the moment we are just assessing what our next plan of action will be.”