Harvester fire: GoFundMe set up for Littlehampton group

The people who were living in the flat above the restaurant lost all of their belongings when their home went up in flames with the Littlehampton site.

Now, a fundraiser has been launched to help them rebuild their lives and has already amassed over £2,000.

Fundraiser Kayleigh Harris wrote on GoFundMe: “As you will have seen on the news, the Windmill Harvester in Littlehampton had a tragic fire which destroyed the entire place.

“Three people lived in the flat upstairs and they have lost everything, including all their belongings.

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“We are hoping that as a big community we can raise some money so they can replace some items.

“Fires are tragic and a lot of things are irreplaceable but with help we can try and make this a little easier on the people affected.”

At the time of writing, the GoFundMe page had raised £2,195 towards its £3,000 target.

Harvester in Littlehampton on fire (Image: Sussex News and Pictures)

The fire ripped through the Harvester in Coastguard Road yesterday after beginning in the kitchen and quickly spreading to the roof of the building.

At its height 12 fire engines were tackling the flames as well as two aerial platforms and two water carriers.

A spokesman for Harvester said: “We are grateful and wish to thank the emergency services who are responding to the incident at the Windmill.

“Once we have a clear understanding of the extent of the damage we will provide updates to guests who planned to visit us, but at the moment our priority is to ensure the safety and security of the building.”

Firefighters confirmed that they had been able to stop the fire spreading to other buildings nearby including the Windmill Entertainment Centre which houses a cinema.

Gary Bell, West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service area manager, said: "When we arrived the building had been fully evacuated and there have been no injuries on site due to the fire today.

"We have a number of resources from here from many emergency services who are working hard to put the fire out and protect those neighbouring buildings."