A SINGLE mother-of-two says she has "lost everything" after a house fire in Sneinton.

Tina Lavender, 44, lived next-door to a house in Colwick Road which caught fire. It spread to her home and the roof collapsed.

Without contents insurance, she has lost all of her possessions as everything was ruined in the fire on Monday.

Ms Lavender, who was decorating the house when the blaze started, was with her two-and-a-half-year-old son Harley as well as daughter Lily-Mai, eight weeks, who was in hospital until last week after being born 10 weeks early.

Ms Lavender said: "I went to the toilet and my bathroom was full of smoke, I couldn't see my hand in front of my face."

She said it was not the first time the bathroom had been smoky – it sometimes happened when her neighbours lit a fire.

She called the neighbour who confirmed she had lit a fire and assumed the smoke would disappear.

But Ms Lavender said: "Five minutes later she banged on the door and said, 'quick get the children out, my house is on fire'.

"I handed her my son and I ran upstairs to get my daughter out of the bedroom in her Moses basket.

"I didn't want to take her outside with it being so cold and her being premature."

She said she had been told by doctors not to take her daughter out of the house but she was left with no option.

After wrapping her daughter up in blankets they fled the house and were in the cold for about 10 minutes before a neighbour took them in.

Ms Lavender has lost all the clothes and possessions for her children. She has no nappies that fit her daughter, who weighs only five pounds, as they have to be ordered.

She has spent the last couple of nights with her friend who lives in the same road, where she is planning to stay for the foreseeable future.

"Everything for my daughter was in the house," said Ms Lavender. "The fire brigade rescued a couple of bottles. My handbag with all my money was in there – everything.

"I can't live there, I've got no gas, electrics and no roof. All my stuff is smoke damaged. I have literally lost everything."

Ms Lavender, who has lived in the house for about three years, said she and her landlord watched the house burn.

She said she moved to Nottingham from Kent five years ago, fleeing domestic abuse, with just the clothes on her back. It had taken her five years to buy everything she owned.

"I came to Nottingham and had to start all over again and now I've lost it all in a fire. I'm devastated."

Notts Fire and Rescue Service said the fire was accidental. It started after a solid fuel cooker was lit, which had a flue pipe to carrying the smoke outside.

A flaw in the pipe allowed sparks to escape and ignited floorboards on the first floor.