A mum-of-five has told of her horror after returning from the morning school run to find her house on fire.

Karen Booth, left her home on Hamilton Road in Great Yarmouth at around 8.15am, and by the time she came back 20 minutes later the upstairs floor was ablaze.

She said: 'The entire upstairs was black and there was a horrible smell of smoke. I just couldn't believe it.'

After calling the fire service, she rushed to her daughter Chloe's, who lives three doors down, who leapt to the rescue of Rollie, her 12-year-old schitzu, who was still inside.

She added: 'I'm absolutely devastated. I've lost everything. How can something like this happen in the space of 20 minutes?

'I just feel completely in limbo now.'

Among the items lost in the blaze were a television, two games consoles and a bed.

Three fire crews from Great Yarmouth and Gorleston attended the blaze, with around 15 firefighters tackling it with hose reel jets.

Fire investigation officer Joe Warns said: 'At the moment, the house is uninhabitable. It was a relatively small fire, but has caused a huge deal of smoke damage.'

The 42-year-old lives in the home with her four other children, James, 15, Lorna, 12, Liam, 11 and Alfie, 2.