An elderly man who has lost his home after a fire gutted two terraced houses in County Antrim has said the blaze has destroyed everything his family owned.

Davy Haighton had lived in his house at Knockleigh Walk in Greenisland, Carrickfergus for the past 56 years.

The retired great-grandfather told BBC News NI that “everything is gone – clothes, money, documents, all our memories”.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) has examined the scene and said the “most probable cause is thought to be accidental ignition due to embers from a nearby bonfire”.

The Haighton family home was one of two houses gutted by the fire, which also damaged two other neighbouring properties in the terrace.

Mr Haighton explained that his wife was already asleep when he noticed a gate at the back of their house was ablaze.

“I realised this was serious, so I got up [the stairs] and straight away woke my wife up and told her to get out because this house was about to burn,” he said.

Mr Haighton said that both he and his wife have “health problems because of our age” and wife uses a stair-lift chair.

But he explained firefighters instructed her not to use the stair-lift during the evacuation for safety reasons, so she had to come down the steps on foot.