A brutal blaze has left a village on the outskirts of Norwich a patchwork of charred homes and barren earth.

As temperatures start to cool across the county, the start reminders of the heatwave - and it's consequences - remain.

Norfolk fire service raced to Poringland at 2.15pm on July 19 to reports of a fire near Shotesham Road and Leafy Oak Lane.

The blaze gutted two homes and an annex and caused serious damage to droves of gardens.

More than two thirds of Lisa Gooderham's garden in West View has been destroyed.

The 50-year-old - who has four cats and eight dogs - works as a caretaker at Poringland Community Centre where many people evacuated to.

"At least I've still got a house. My neighbours haven't," she said.

"I was watching EastEnders with the blinds shut because I'd been sent home with heatstroke.

"My friend's daughter had seen news of the fire on Facebook and rang me.

"Within minutes the fire was so close that I had to leave.

"I had to leave my chickens. Two of my cats are still missing.

"I just started screaming.

"The smoke was just so thick."

Landscaper James Thornton lives a few doors down.

The father-of-three said: "There are a lot of weird emotions here today. We live among such great people."

He, along with next-door neighbour Dave Lazell, worked tirelessly to protect West View.

Dave came home to smoke billowing over Poringland and leapt into action.

His shoes caught fire as he kept his garden blaze at bay.

He added: "Everyone told us we had to abandon our homes but I wasn't going to leave.

"I knew I had to do what I could to save my home."

Graham Gibson was running up and down his garden with buckets of water.

"We went into survival mode," he said.

"Smoke was billowing. It was overwhelming."

Charlotte Hummel is the clerk at Poringland Parish Council.

She stayed in the hall overnight with colleague Lisa Gooderham, who couldn't return home.

She said: "People are distraught.

"We had a slow trickle of about 30 people in the vicinity coming to us for respite.

"As a community we're looking at how we can move forward."