It was an average Tuesday for Clayton Baldacchino, before a phone call changed the trajectory of not just his day but his living situation for the immediate future.

That panicked call to the 37-year-old came from his sister who informed him that his family home in a social housing block in Ħamrun, where he lives with his parents, was being engulfed in flames.

It actually was the apartment below the Baldacchinos’ home, in Triq Meltinone Scerri, that had caught fire.

But it was enough for the residents of the entire block of eight apartments to be evacuated – and it looks likely they will have to spend Christmas away from their homes.

No one was injured but the fire took one life – Baldacchino’s cat.

“To be honest, when my sister called me I thought she might have made a mistake, I hoped she had seen the wrong block,” Baldacchino, a Progress Press employee, recounted.

“I was in my van with a colleague and we made our way home. On the Marsa-Ħamrun bypass I could see the smoke billowing and then I knew it, there was no doubt it was our home.”

He never expected to find the scene that awaited him when he reached his residence.

“I think I was still holding out hope that it was like a small kitchen blaze and I would find my mother and all our neighbours chatting outside waiting for it to be put out,” he said.

“But it was nothing like that. It was like an intense heat because the entire apartment had caught fire. From every angle you looked at it, there was a wall of raging flames.”

Dusky, the cat which died in the fire on Tuesday.

Baldacchino’s 73-year-old mother had been pulled to safety by neighbours after she wandered into the communal corridor attempting to coax the family cat, Dusky, to follow her.

“She heard shouting from outside the balcony and realised what was going on. She went looking for the cat but couldn’t see it.

“She tried to grab his treat bag and went outside hoping he would follow her. Because the fire was coming from below, the smoke had started to creep up on her. Luckily, our neighbours heard her and pulled her into their flat, and they were all evacuated safely.”

Baldacchino says he tried to make a quick dash into the house to see if he could find the cat but the ferocity of the flames prevented him from going too far.

“The smoke was so thick it was dizzying. I thought if I was quick I could maybe get in and find the cat, but I couldn’t make it past a couple of steps beyond the threshold of the fire.”

When civil protection arrived he told them were no people inside but that their cat was probably still in there.

“When the fireman came back down I saw him holding something wrapped in a towel. They tried to treat him but it was too late, Dusky didn’t make it.”

The families have been offered alternative accommodation by the social housing department. Assessments are underway to determine when they might be able to return, but Baldacchino believes it may be a while as the place needs to be certified safe first.

Despite the devastation, he said the family counted themselves lucky that nobody was injured and that other than a thick dusting of soot, many of their possessions had been untouched by the flames.

“This whole situation could have been much worse. If things didn’t happen the way that they did it could have easily been a tragedy,” Baldacchino said.

“Our biggest loss has been Dusky. He was only three years old and a beloved part of the family. You never imagine you could lose a healthy pet like this.”

“My parents are in shock, but we have our health and we’re going to be together for Christmas,” he said.

“It’s a bit disorientating to be out of your home. I grew up in this area and imagined I would always live here. I’d never considered having to be out of my surroundings.”