A fundraising campaign has been started for a Burnham-On-Sea family whose home was gutted by an early morning blaze on Sunday (October 3rd).
Crews from Burnham-On-Sea and Bridgwater rushed to Technical Street at 5.03am after smoke was seen emerging from the property.
Two people inside were rescued while Bre Harrington and her husband managed to escape the blaze on their own.
A Burnham-On-Sea Fire Station spokesman said: “On arrival, crews confirmed smoke and flames were issuing and one person was shouting for help from the first floor window.”
“At this time our fire control were on the phone to another person in another flat giving life-saving advice. Crews rescued a male from the first floor using a ladder. The second person was then found in the other flat and was fitted with a rescue hood through the first floor window while the BA team made their way through the fire to rescue her.”
Bre says: “My husband and myself lrescued ourselves. I am recovering from ankle surgery but adrenaline led me to climb out of the bathroom window over to the other neighbours roof top and down. We were out of our building before the fire service even arrived.”
“The dramatic stuff is what happened to our neighbours. Dan was sleeping and in a panic after I escaped the house and was on the rooftop, I was screaming for someone, anyone to help and yelling for Dan to wake up. Our other neighbours Kath she is elderly and was in her flat alone. Her alarm was going off and her electric had gone and she thought she was going to die. All exits to all 3 buildings were engulfed with flames. Dan’s cat and dog were rescued shortly after Dan was. Kath was then later rescued and sent to hospital.”
“We are all so very lucky and if it wasn’t for my cat waking me when he did. It may have been too late for us all to survive! My cats were later found alive, once the investigators let us into our home. The contents of our home currently smell of smoke. The door, guttering and roof is damaged.”
“Not one of us who live in those 3 properties will be returning even once the work has been done. We have all survived a fire here twice. A third time we may not be so lucky. I’m sure we are all struggling to deal with this mentally. With my family history and anxiety I know I can’t stay there. We all deserve somewhere safe to live with our family.”
and it’s the second time in a year that fire has struck the family and a crowdfunding page has been set up here to help the family with the aim of raising £2,000.
In the first incident in November 2020, Bre and her son were in bed when they were alerted to a fire outside the property by a neighbour. The stairs to their only exit were covered in flames but they managed to escape, however Bre struggled for months with anxiety every time she saw the lights of vehicles, loud noises or smokey smells.
Then, around 5am on Sunday October 3rd 2021 another fire broke out which was much worse, leaving the property and the neighbour’s property temporarily inhabitable. Bre was awoken by her cat jumping onto her injured ankle which alerted her to the fire. The blaze triggered her into a panic and after waking her husband they called the emergency services who dramatically rescued them and their pets – but the home was gutted by the fire.
After two fires at the property in less than a year, and being affected by a fatal fire in 1987, they say they are desperate to find another home in which they can feel safe.
Pictured: Police at the scene of Sunday’s blaze in Technical Street
