A PREGNANT woman told today of the devastating moment she returned home to find her York flat ravaged by fire.

Tracey Smith, who was uninsured, said the blaze completely gutted the council property in Bramham Road, Chapelfields, and destroyed all her possessions.

The 20-year-old is five-and-a-half months pregnant and had £600 worth of baby equipment in the flat. She said she had warned housing chiefs that the upstairs property where the fire broke out was being used by drug addicts and squatters since its former tenant was imprisoned on March 8.

Fire investigators and the police were today still investigating whether the cause of the blaze was deliberate.

"Everything has gone, it's so horrible," said Tracey, who is now living with her mother, Susan Farrow, in Clifton.

"I went to my mum's for the weekend and I when I got back I didn't have a house left.

"Nobody from the council rang to tell me what was going on. I could have been in there or anything. My baby is due in a couple of months and all I've got left are the clothes on my back."

Tracey said she would be living with her mother until the council could re-house her.

"I'm so upset - I was in tears for ages," she said.

"When I'm stressed out the baby is stressed out."

Mrs Farrow said: "Tracey told the council to board up the flat above because she was sick of the drug addicts and squatters going in there.

"Now she has lost everything."

A police spokesman said they were still investigating the cause of the blaze, which broke out at 10pm on Sunday.

Three fire crews battled the fire for just under two hours before bringing it under control. Anyone with information should phone PC Hamish Halloway at York police on 01904 669564.

A spokeswoman for City of York Council said they became aware that the tenant was imprisoned on March 11 and then "took precautions to change the locks and make the flat secure".

"The council takes seriously problems that tenants experience and we are working systematically with other partners on a series of measures to improve the quality of life for people in flats in the Chapelfields area," she said.

Updated: 10:22 Wednesday, March 16, 2005