Home Destroyed by Fire in Cheltenham

22/09/2009

A property in Redding's Park, Cheltenham, was ruined by an early morning fire the beginning of the month.

The owner, 35-year-old Laura Beery's was relieved that she was not inside when the fire broke out at 7am on Sunday, but she has been told that it will have to be entirely rebuilt.

She was spending the weekend at her boyfriend's house in the Forest of Dean, but her four cats remained in the house. Luckily they managed to escape the blaze, and were found hiding at the back of the house, scared but fine.

Her boyfriend Sebastian said that the police had called him at home around 8.30am on Sunday and asked him what connection he had with the house. "When I asked them 'why' and they told me that it had been on fire I was shocked," said Sebastian.

When Laura and Sebastian rushed back to make sure her four cats, Sugar, Spice, Summer and India, were okay, they found that the house was left severely smoke damaged.

The fire fighters managed to bring the fire under control after one hour. After extinguishing the blaze, they looked into the cause of the fire.

"They think the fire started in the immersion heater. There was no suggestion that it was faulty or anything, it was fine when I left it on Friday evening. It was just one of those things," she said.

A few days ago Ms Beery had a meeting with an insurance loss assessor to calculate the damage to the house as they looked through the remnants of the fire-ravaged home.

Laura said: "He said the only part of the house that was any good is the conservatory at the back. The rest of it will have to be rebuilt from the inside. I don't have to knock the house down, but it all needs redoing and it's going to take a long time. I don't know how much it's going to cost, but thankfully I'm insured."

"I'm actually quite calm, there's no other way to take this, there's nothing else I can do."

Due to the extensive damage, the property is going to have to be rebuilt from the inside and it will take at least six months. Ms Beery will have to find alternative accommodation for her and her four cats, although employing a loss assessor will ensure that this is done on her behalf.