Ms Langley, who has been staying at the Hotel Motel since the fire, said the money was very much appreciated, particularly as she was having so much trouble with her insurance company.

“They are playing their usual game, running me ‘round and ‘round in circles,” she said.

“I think that they think because I am a woman, they can walk over me, but I’ve worked with men all my life and I won’t let them get away with it. I just want to go home,” she continued.

Ms Langley said she was also very grateful to the young men who had been the first to arrive on the scene - Ben Goodfellow, Daniel Slade and Shane McKenzie.

“If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here,” she said, “I can’t thank them enough.”

A wood fireplace is believed to have been the cause of the fire.