Blaze engulfs Kendal family home

10:29am Thursday 6th December 2012 in News

The roof of the house was cut away by firefighters The roof of the house was cut away by firefighters

FIRE engulfed the home of a young family on the Sandylands estate in Kendal last night, with flames seen billowing from the roof.

Five fire crews, two from Kendal and single crews from Milnthorpe, Windermere and Barrow, made up of 26 fire fighters, were called to tackle the blaze on Sandylands Road just after 10.30pm.

They found the roof well alight and worked to stop the fire from spreading to adjoining houses.

Kendal station manager Steve Sharrock said the original call was that there was a family in the house with children, but on arrival found they had safely evacuated.

“The occupier told us that early in the evening he had noticed a fault with the lighting system in the bathroom, flicking on and off, which he had isolated,” he said.

“Later he heard a crackle and when he looked into the attic, saw a fire had started to take hold.”

There was significant water damage to the house, and fire damage to rooms on the first floor as well as the attic.

There was also some smoke damage to adjoining properties, though fire fighters managed to stop the fire itself from spreading along the row of terraced houses.

Part of the roof was cut away to help extinguish the flames, with crews making the beams safe before leaving.

Council gritters were also called to the fire as water running onto the road turned to ice in the freezing temperatures.

The last fire fighters left the scene at 4.30am today.

Mr Sharrock called on householders to ensure they have working smoke alarms, and said anyone can request a free home fire risk assessment by calling 0800 358 4777.

Comments(12)

55sarah55 says...
6:33pm Thu 6 Dec 12

My sister and family live in the house next door, my niece raised the alarm in their house, she is a little hero! But all the Christmas presents have gone up in smoke and they are now left homeless for Christmas, but those things can eventually be replaced, all those involved got out safe and well thank goodness!

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Rachel1980 says...
8:31pm Thu 6 Dec 12

Funny that you say that the adjoining houses only have smoke damage, when my sisters has a big hole in the roof, one of the bedrooms is damaged and everything in the loft has gone up in smoke including the kids Christmas presents and they are going to have to find somewhere to live for the next 3 months!

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55sarah55 says...
9:29pm Thu 6 Dec 12

Gazette, get the facts right before going to print!

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Cas220 says...
10:37pm Thu 6 Dec 12

There's a Facebook page with people offering donations. Lots of people are asking about the families in the adjoining houses so if you could go there and add some details that would be great.
https://www.facebook
.com/groups/39868569
6874845/

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Mrslucy says...
5:35am Fri 7 Dec 12

Westmorland Gazette...get your facts right!!! There is at least 1 other family next door who have been badly affected by this disaster, whose Christmas has also been ruined as well as losing their possesions

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nixon1 says...
9:05am Fri 7 Dec 12

It does state in the report.

"There was also some smoke damage to adjoining properties, though fire fighters managed to stop the fire itself from spreading along the row of terraced houses".

I take that as it has been reported adjoining properties have had smoke damage.

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blackpoollad86 says...
9:19am Fri 7 Dec 12

iam so gutted my old house has set on fire and feel for the people that live there

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Rachel1980 says...
9:53am Fri 7 Dec 12

Cas220 wrote:
There's a Facebook page with people offering donations. Lots of people are asking about the families in the adjoining houses so if you could go there and add some details that would be great.
https://www.facebook

.com/groups/39868569

6874845/
The link doesn't seem to work.

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Lakeuk says...
1:46pm Fri 7 Dec 12

Rachel1980- When you copy the link you need to make sure you remove the spaces. Gazette site is rubbish at displaying comments as written

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hollybrook says...
6:20pm Fri 7 Dec 12

Why do you say the adjoining property has smoke damage when the fire has gone through into next door they are homeless until a new roof can be put on the house. They are a young family who have not only lost all their childrens xmas gifts but the up stairs of their home has been devastated.

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Ladyxxmacbeth says...
11:17pm Sun 9 Dec 12

Guess it just goes to show how important home insurance is

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BillyBob86 says...
4:38pm Tue 11 Dec 12

Agreed with Ladyxxmacbeth.

I feel for the families of both the householder and the adjoining properties. Household insurance would of giving them housing and replaced all the damaged items. Thats the risk you take by not getting it. Too big a risk for me!

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