A family of five escaped with only the clothes on their backs after a fire ripped through their Yellow Elder Gardens home yesterday.

The blaze which started early yesterday afternoon quickly spread throughout the entire home.

While the outside of the dwelling showed no signs of damages, the inside was completed gutted by the fire.

The homeowners, who were at the house at the time, said even though they may have lost their possessions, they are grateful that none of their loved ones was injured or even worse.

Mario Cartwright lived at the home with his wife, two young children, his father who is blind and his brother and he said that mere moments after his family noticed smoke, the house was quickly engulfed in flames.

“I just heard one my little boys scream that there was smoke and then the next thing we saw was fire,” he said.

“I don’t where or how the fire started, but as soon as I saw what was happening I made sure the children and my wife got out then my father and my brother.”

Mr. Cartwright’s wife, Julie, said she was cooking at the time but she insisted that the blaze did not begin the kitchen.

“My son saw smoke first in the hallway and then the fire went everywhere,” she said.

Sergeant George Martin of the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) Fire Services Division said investigators had still not determined the cause of the blaze and where it began.

Mr. Martin said fire officials will return to the home to conduct a thorough investigation.

The family is now staying with relatives and is uncertain if or when they will be able to rebuild their home.