A homeless man's wooden huts which made national news in January have been ruined in a fire.
Chris Inker spent the pandemic living in a wooden cabin he built himself beside the A4042 in Newport.
The 45-year-old proudly invited WalesOnline to cover his life in the huts earlier this year.
Remarkably Mr Inker had made two cabins with their own bedrooms, two generators, a sitting area surrounding a fire pit, and a shed to store wood.
But on Saturday night at around 8pm two fire engines from the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service were dispatched to the scene of the blaze.
Onlookers described a “huge fire”, with one person saying it was so big he had thought it was a caravan set alight.
“I was just going past the old Sainsbury’s and could see a huge fire, it was really quite big,” one witness said. “When I got closer I realised it was a wooden cabin. When I left it was still in full flow.”
South Wales Fire and Rescue Service confirmed there were no injuries caused by the incident, and the cause of the fire is currently unknown.
Mr Inker told WalesOnline in January he had built the huts after deciding to leave temporary accommodation in a guest house in Newport due to drug users.
"They put me into a hostel on Stow Hill, but people were taking drugs and all that,” he said. “I just didn't want to know. That's why I won't go to any of these places. I don't want to be around that.
"I don't get bothered. I have the fire service up here. They come and check on us. Drop food off. Water if we need it.
"The police have stopped once or twice to see if we are ok. We get that a lot. But we haven't had any problems there."
A spokeswoman for the fire service said they “received a call at 8.08pm on Saturday, September 4 regarding a fire in an outdoor structure”.
They added: “Four breathing apparatus were used, two hose reel jets, small tools, and two fire engines attended. No one was injured.”
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