AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD boy alerted his mum to the blaze that went on to gut part of his family home.

Mum Amy Brown praised son Jenson’s intervention, which helped her life as well as that of daughter Raeya – plus three-year-old Netherlands Dwarf rabbit Naala.

Amy’s partner, Richard Bird, was at work at the time.

The family lost everything in the fire, which started in the tumble dryer at their rented home in Church Walk North, Moredon, on Tuesday, October 13.

An online fundraiser set up by family friend Misha Joof has already raised hundreds of pounds to support the family.

Amy, 33, said her son had asked to go downstairs to watch TV at around 6am.

“It’s an ongoing joke in our family that Jenson gets up at 5am,” she told the Adver.

“If he had stayed in bed that day things could have been very different. We’re not going to get him to stay in bed again!”

After going down to watch TV, Jenson came running back upstairs to tell his mum the telly had exploded.

It hadn’t – but the tumble dryer had.

Amy said: “As I came downstairs I could see smoke starting to come under the kitchen door. He alerted me to the fact there was something wrong.”

She took the children outside, then went into the kitchen.

“You just couldn’t see anything it was so thick with smoke,” Amy said.

The smoke was so thick that she couldn’t see the family rabbit, three year-old Naala, who lived in the kitchen-diner.

She feared the animal, a house rabbit, had perished in the blaze.

By 6.40am, two fire appliances from Stratton St Margaret fire station were at the scene.

Her children were concerned about their pet.

“They love her," Amy said.

"All they wanted to know was where the rabbit was and was she okay.”

Happily, the Stratton firefighters were able to rescue the rabbit, who appeared none the worse for her ordeal.

She is recuperating at a friend’s house while the family stay with Amy’s parents’ home. But the family’s home was severely damaged in the blaze.

Amy said: “Everything we had is just completely destroyed. The insurance company has told us there’s nothing that can be fixed. We’ve lost everything.”

An online fundraiser set up by her friend, Misha Joof, in the wake of the fire has already raised more than £1,000.

Amy said: “It’s not something you expect. I was shocked by the fact she’d done it in the first place.”

She said she was overwhelmed by people’s generosity, adding: “It warms my heart to know there are people out there willing to help when help is needed.”

Station manager Dave Adamson, the Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service officer tasked with investigating the blaze, praised Jenson for raising the alarm and said Stratton firefighters had been surprised at how significant the fire was when they arrived at the house.

He said it was important people remembered to close internal doors in order to prevent the spread of the flames.

“A good night time routine is to close all your doors downstairs," he said. "What that will do is limit any fire damage to the room of origin. You can cause more smoke damage through the rest of the property if you don’t have doors closed.”

Amy had shut most of the doors, keeping the worst of the fire in the back of the house and stopping it from spreading further.

To donate to the online fundraiser, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/house-fire-for-my-friend-amy-brown