Fire at Dursley flats thought to be arson
A fire which broke out in a block of flats on 1st April is being treated as suspicious.
Residents, including a couple and their 2 children had to flee the burning building. Dan and Sarah Elliot had to run through the flames with their 2 young twins, Amelia and Isobel. Mr Elliot said: “There was no other way out. The girls were in bed, we didn’t even wake them up, we just grabbed them, wrapped them in blankets and had to run through the fire to get out. It was just thick black smoke, you couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face.”
Connie Lusmore, another resident in the flats had recently returned from hospital after receiving treatment for a blood clot and was too ill to move. Her teenage son stayed with her and tried to keep her calm. Connie said; “It all happened so fast. It was panic at first but the lady on the phone said to shut the door and get as far away from the fire as possible.”
Neighbour, John Jenkins was hailed a ‘hero’ after running from his home wearing just his boxer shorts to throw water onto the flames. Mr Jenkins who applied to be a part time firefighter but was rejected due to health reasons said: “I’m going to keep trying, it’s something I really want to do. I failed my cardio test by a tiny amount. If I work on that, I think i’ll get in. I’d had all the training so I knew what I was doing but the fire service wasn’t happy with me when they turned up. They told me to get the hell out of there.”
An investigation into the cause of the fire will be carried out but the incident is being treated as arson.
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