Families fleeing wildfires grabbed pets and tried to dig trenches
‘We’ve lost everything’: Families fleeing wildfires grabbed pets and tried to dig trenches to stop flames as devastated homeowner reveals his house has been destroyed just eight WEEKS after he paid off the mortgage
- The Stock family lost their house in fire that ripped through Wennington, London
- The family managed to save their two dogs and their pet tortoise from the blaze
- Another resident, Carole Stopp, 69, also rescued her tortoise after fire started
- But Gary Ruel, 63, who was evacuated from his home, fears he has lost two cats
Families have revealed how their lives have been turned upside-down by the devastating Wennington wildfire.
Dozens of people have been left homeless after a fire ripped through the small village, on the outskirts of east London, yesterday amid the UK’s record breaking 40C heatwave.
Around 40 hectares of grassland, farm buildings, houses and garages on The Green and Kent View were affected by the inferno, which took around 100 firefighters to bring under control.
Two detached houses, two semi-detached houses, two rows of terraced houses, two outbuildings, six single-storey garages, 12 stables and five cars were destroyed by the blaze.
Another detached property was badly damaged, say London Fire Brigade (LFB).
Now families caught up in the devastating fire have spoken about the moment they noticed the inferno sweeping towards them.
Some say they rounded-up and rescued their pets, while others attempted to dig trenches to stop the advancing wall of fire.
Tim Stock, whose house was destroyed, said he and his son saw the fire in his neighbour’s garden but had been unable to stop it spreading.
The 66-year-old, who works as the village gravedigger and church warden, managed to escape with his family, two dogs and a tortoise.
He said: ‘I lost everything. The house, the garden, we had two beehives, there was no going back.
Tim Stock (pictured here with wife Maggie, Vicky Schafer and Alfie Stock) whose own house was destroyed, said he and his son saw the fire in his neighbour’s garden but had been unable to stop it spreading
The 66-year-old, who works as the village gravedigger and church warden, managed to escape with his family, two dogs and a tortoise. Pictured: The Stock’s house after it was destroyed by fire
A woman is given water and comforted close to the blaze in the village of Wennington, east London, where 100 firefighters tackled a fire on Tuesday
Two detached houses, two semi-detached houses, two rows of terraced houses, two outbuildings, six single-storey garages, 12 stables and five cars were destroyed by the blaze
‘My son took some stuff and went round to his mate’s house but about 10 minutes later that burnt down so he has got nothing either.
‘I’ve been a gravedigger for 50 years. My truck has blown up, that belonged to the council. I didn’t have time to get it out.
‘Last night I stayed in Thurrock Hotel. The council was trying to put us up in people’s houses but we’ve got two dogs and my tortoise Malty.’
Speaking about how the fire started, he said: ‘The fire started across the cornfield, at one point I got stuck behind the cordon and the field was burning so I couldn’t get out that way.
‘We opened up the church because I have the keys, we got everyone in, people were covered in soot, they were having a drink of water, but then that started filling up with smoke so we had to get everyone out again. I’m surprised it didn’t burn down as well to be honest.’
His son Alfie today revealed how he battled to save his childhood home with a hosepipe.
He added: ‘I was just getting ready to go out and my brother came in and told me he could smell some smoke.
‘It was just a pile of grass, it was nothing. By the time we got the hosepipe through the wind picked up and the embers from that little pile of grass spread to all the trees.
Residents and emergency services are assessing the damage this morning after Britain’s hottest day on record sparked a string of devastating wild fires which destroyed dozens of homes and businesses. (Pictured: Aftermath in Wennington, Essex)
Around 100 firefighters were called to an inferno in Wennington, Essex, alone, which one emergency worker described as ‘absolute hell.’ (Pictured: Row of destroyed homes in Wennington following Tuesday’s inferno)
‘Within five minutes, their house was on fire. We were trying to hose down their lean-to roof to try and stop it spreading to our house as best we could. It went from there.’
Resident John Bishop claims he saw the fire from his back window as it started to spread.
He told the Telegraph: ‘I saw a compost heap which went up in flames and I’m wondering if that was the source of this fire.
‘The fire became an inferno incredibly quickly. I really don’t know about my home, I’ve been keeping an eye on it on the news via the helicopter pictures.’
Another local, Ray Smith, 55, told the Sun: ‘I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life.
‘I got in my car and got out of there. People were scared. It’s heartbreaking. I think I’ve lost everything.’
Carole Stopp, 69, who has lived in Wennington Green for more than 35 years, also rescued her tortoise Cleo – who is 60 years old in human years – from the blaze.
She told the Telegraph: ‘Thick black smoke started rising at about 1pm.
‘I said: “Oh my god” and looked out the window. Our neighbour Tim’s front garden was on fire. We rang to see if he was ok. Tim was trying to put the fire out himself with a hose.
Burned out cars are among the wreckage left by a fierce wildfire in Wennington, Essex, sparked by record-breaking temperatures on Tuesday
Firefighters are pictured dampening the flames in Wennington early on Wednesday morning, as warnings for fires remained in place due to the dry conditions
‘Then we heard some large bangs – we think it must have been windows imploding because of the heat. We just grabbed the tortoise and left.’
While some families managed to rescue their pets, others who didn’t are in fear of their safety.
Gary Ruel, 63, a lorry driver who was evacuated from his home, told the Telegraph: ‘I’m really worried about my house. I might have lost three cats, I got the dog out, but didn’t have time for the cats.’
‘It’s terrible. I’ve just finished paying off the mortgage two months ago. It’s heartbreaking.
‘My wife has [the lung condition] COPD and the fireman was just telling her ‘Get out, get out!’.’
The couple’s son William, 33, who lives in Halstead, Essex said: ‘My mum sent me a picture of the fire outside the home from the bathroom. She was still in there when it was coming up to the house.
‘It started in the field, then came into the garden, then it was up to the decking and the conservatory. We think the neighbour’s house has gone too. It’s awful, I watched on TV as the house went up in flames.’
Neighbour Kia Meadows described how quickly things went ablaze. She told BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme: ‘I was sunbathing in my garden when a massive black cloud’s come across, I looked up and that side of Wennington was on fire and within an hour it had spread to our house.
‘A lot of this land is built on a lot of rubbish and as soon as the heat comes, this area goes on fire straight away but never did I believe it would come that close.’
Meanwhile, friends of those affected today revealed how one woman fled her burning home in scorched Wennington with just her photo album, a cat and her dead father’s ashes, it emerged today.
Burnt grass surrounds St Mary and St Peter’s Church in the village of Wennington, as historic place of worship miraculously remains largely untouched by the inferno
Two rows of terraced houses, four other homes, 12 stables and five cars were destroyed by the inferno in Wennington, near the Dartford Crossing east of London. Pictured: A sliding image showing the devastation after the fire (left) and the village before the fire (right)
Two of her cats are still missing following the massive fire which she said might have started in a compost bin next door to her.
The story emerged as a friend, who would not give his name, returned to the village to look for her cats.
He said he was looking after two people who had lost their homes.
He said: ‘I just came down to look for the cats of two friends who are staying at mine in Upminster.
‘I heard the scrapyard was looking after pets but I haven’t seen the cats and the police aren’t letting anyone through.
‘The fire, it was next door to their house, and she seems to think it came from a compost bin. She said it enveloped the treeline.
‘She tried to get her cats out, one jumped out of her hand, the other she got in a box and the other ran off.
‘It scratched her hand it was so frightened.
‘She was evacuated to the Windmill pub but luckily I’m local so I phoned them up when I heard and they came to stay with me in Upminster.
‘They are more concerned about the cats than the rest of it. They’re in shock but there are little bits coming back to them.
‘She lost her father last year and she picked up her photo albums on the way out and his ashes.
‘Otherwise it’s all gone, everything. They’ve got two vehicles and they are not even letting them go in to get them, a van on The Green and a Porsche outside someone’s house.
‘At least if they get them they are mobile.’
Amid the scramble to evacuate people from Wennington yesterday, one woman said her uncle was trapped – and was ‘digging a trench’ around his house to thwart the flames. Police later rescued him.
A compost heap on the edge of Wennington village is believed by some to be the source of the inferno after it reportedly burst into flames before spreading to nearby grass and undergrowth and eventually reaching homes (destroyed properties pictured)
The fire took place near to a fire station. Firefighters battled to contain the inferno is it swept across the village, and towards the fire station itself
The chard remains of homes in the village of Wennington following the devastating fire which swept through yesterday as Britain hit 40C for the first time
The inferno appears to have been sparked by a burning compost heap around 1pm in parched grassland adjacent to Wennington fire station – which meant firefighters were immediately on the scene
Firefighters fought in vain to stop the fire rapidly spreading on to tinder dry scrubland and incinerating back gardens. As homes were gutted, residents said they could hear the sound of panicked horses whinnying in a surrounding field
With its Norman church, Wennington features in the Domesday Book, and it seemed an apt description last night amid the smouldering ruins of charred homes.
Local councillor Susan Ospreay said: ‘Wennington Village has been completely devastated by fire.’ The inferno appears to have been sparked by a burning compost heap around 1pm in parched grassland adjacent to Wennington fire station – which meant firefighters were immediately on the scene.
Distressed residents could be seen carrying buckets of water to the Lennards Arms pub where the community had gathered. Others were hurriedly removing gas canisters from the pub.
Others were hurriedly removing gas canisters from the pub. As the blaze drew nearer, police evacuated the building.
Landlord Walter Martin, 60, said: ‘I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s awful. People are devastated.’ Pensioner Lynn Sabberton said: ‘The police came to our house and told us to get what we could.’
Brian Brazier, 75, added: ‘The fire has burnt my stables out. It started as a little fire around the back of the houses and if someone had been there to put it out we wouldn’t have had all this trouble.’
Resident Janet Hickey, 70, who has terminal pancreatic cancer, said she was forced to leave all her cancer drugs behind as they were evacuated. She said: ‘I’ve got all my cancer drugs in the fridge.’
As buildings surrounding the Grade II-listed medieval St Mary and St Peter’s Church caught fire, vicar Rev Elise Peterson called for people to pray for the community.
Meanwhile, a firefighter at the scene, asked by the PA news agency what conditions were like, replied: ‘absolute hell’, while those affected by the blaze said it had been spreading ‘fast’.
Wennington resident, Lynn Sabberton, who said she was evacuated from her home with her partner who has a lung difficulty, told Sky News: ‘We thought it was one of the fields that caught alight over the back of us.
‘But then a neighbour rang me and said, ‘oh no, it’s on the green, the green has caught fire’. I saw the black smoke and the helicopters came over and more police came into our neighbourhood and it was really spreading very fast.
‘It just spread so quickly, I think the wind caused the fire to go our way towards the village.’
Lizzie Pittman, from Aveley in Essex, who works at some stables by the roundabout, said she was looking after the five horses who had been removed from their stables in Wennington, which had burnt down.
Ms Pittman said: ‘This is your worst nightmare. You can see it getting closer and closer.
‘People are losing their houses but that’s bricks and mortar. People are losing their livestock.’
‘It’s like a warzone’: Devastated homeowners ‘lost everything’ as they fled wildfires that destroyed 41 homes across London as record 40.3C heatwave sparked ‘busiest day for firefighters in since WW2’
Homeowners have told how they were forced to grab their beloved pets and flee for their lives as their properties were decimated by a fire thought to have been sparked by a compost heap which spontaneously combusted.
Two rows of terraced houses, four other homes, 12 stables and five cars were destroyed by the inferno in Wennington, near the Dartford Crossing east of London.
Terrified residents were ordered out as 100 firefighters tried to halt a lethal wall of flame spreading from home to home, fanned by warm winds. One firefighter at the scene branded it ‘absolute hell’.
One of the worst scenes aside from Wennington was in Dagenham, east London, where video shows an almost post-apocalyptic scene following a blaze which has destroyed a number of properties.
One person filming the devastation, which looks similar to the types of images taken from bombed out villages in Ukraine, described the blackened area as looking ‘like a warzone’.
Horrific fires swept through homes last night as Britain recorded the hottest day in its history, with the 40C (104F) barrier broken for the first time.
The London fire brigade said Tuesday was their busiest day since the end of the Second World War, with at least 110 fire trucks sent to blazes across the capital.
Extremely dry ground and searing temperatures created the perfect ‘tinderbox’ conditions for blazes to break out across the country with major incidents declared in London, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, South Yorkshire and Leicestershire. Scotland and Wales also saw fires.
A wildfire operations expert last night claimed that the severity of yesterday’s fires was ‘rare or possibly unprecedented’, but said due to climate change they were likely to happen ‘more and more’ in the future.
As firefighters battled numerous blazes, parts of the UK saw some relief from the blazing heat last night with showers and thunderstorms, particularly in the north of England and south of Scotland.
The Met Office is warning of potential flooding with a yellow warning for thunderstorms in place for London and parts of the south east later today.
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