Father fights for life after Undy fire (From South Wales Argus)

Father fights for life after Undy fire

9:32am Thursday 19th November 2009

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A MAN is fighting for his life this morning after suffering serious burns from a fire which gutted his Undy home.

The 41-year-old man managed to get out of the house after the blaze ripped through the two-story detached house in Rectory Gardens just after 10am.

He was taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport where he remains in a critical condition.

Residents said he lives with his wife and two school-age children, none of whom were in the house at the time.

Neighbours alerted the emergency services to the fire and were evacuated from the cul-de-sac off the B4245.

Most of the residents were already out of their properties and police only had to inform around four or five residents to evacuate.

More than 30 firefighters were involved in tackling the fire including crews from Chepstow and Avonmouth.

Paramedics, ten police officers and four fire engines were called to the scene as well workers from Western Power Distribution and Network Rail.

A police helicopter circled overhead for around an hour and part of the B4245 was restricted, with traffic first directed by police officers and then through temporary traffic lights.

Police and the fire service could not confirm how the fire started.

Inspector Paul Jackson from Gwent Police said they initially had reports there had been some kind of explosion.

He said gas was not the cause of the fire but that it cannot be eliminated and might have contributed to it.

The fire was still alight several hours later yesterday as the gas was still burning inside the house.

Incident commander Garry Davies from South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said the fire was so severe it made it impossible for investigators to go into the building once the fire had been put out.

Firefighters made the building safe and investigations into the cause will continue when scenes of crime go back into the house today.

Police remained at the scene through most of the night.

Mr Davies said there was no damage to neighbouring properties as fire crews arrived quickly enough to put water curtains at each property to prevent any damage.

Residents of Rectory Garden were allowed back into their homes just before 2.30pm yesterday but the cul-de-sac, made up of nine detached houses, remained cordoned off during the night.

Next door neighbour Joan Hazelwood, 70, returned home at about 10.30am to see the fire after taking her grandson to school and going to the bank.

She said the smell of smoke was strong in her house after returning there yesterday afternoon but did not want to stay there last night and instead stayed at her daughter’s house.

Jeremy Johnson, 41, who lives on the other side of the fire-torn house said he was called home from work in Hereford by his sister-in-law.

He has known the family for five years and said there was luckily no damage to his own house.

Rhianna Went, whose mother lives nearby in Magor, said: “My thoughts are with the family especially as it’s only six weeks till Christmas. It looks like they’ve lost everything.”

She said the Magor and Undy community will support the family and do what it can to help.

The fire also caused some disruption to train services as a railway line runs behind the house.

Trains initially slowed down for about 30 minutes causing five or ten minute delays to some journeys.

Network Rail bosses were concerned about thick smoke from the fire affecting the train line and closed off one of the four tracks.

Mark Langman, Network Rail’s area general manager, said services were running as normal after 11.40am.

Taxi driver snapped pics at the scene

Taxi driver Jason Pritchard was driving to Caldicot along the B4245 at around 10am yesterday when he saw the fire. Mr Pritchard, who owns Beeches Taxis in Magor, said the fire had just started. He said the whole house was “completely gutted” and took several photographs which he sent into the Argus.

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