Thornbury family 'devastated' by fire in their home

David Scott and his family have been forced to move in with his parents after a children’s bedroom went up in flames in their flat in Stafford Crescent, Thornbury.

Firefighters from Thornbury Fire Station attended the incident and extinguished the blaze but David claims he was told by Bromford, the housing association that looks after the property, that the flat was too fire damaged for him to go back inside.

That has left him and his family with no personal belongings or access to many sentimental items.

“It is absolutely devastating,” David said.

“Obviously we are happy that nobody was seriously hurt but it is been a really traumatic for us.

“We have been staying with my mum since and we still have things trapped inside.”

David, an electrician, said that he had contacted Bromford on multiple occasions to complain about maintenance issues with the residence but he claims that they were not listened to.

“We were left with just the clothes on our backs and now we can’t get back in to the flat,” David continued.

“Bromford opened it for me last week and told me that I had ten minutes to sort my stuff out, that wasn’t enough time to get stuff.

“We were told that the flat was too severely damaged but the fire crews had told us that they were able to stop it spreading from one room, the whole thing has just been made even more traumatic.”

David’s partner Jackie was in the property at the time of the fire and explained how she rushed to get the three children aged two, seven and nine out of their home.

“I was bathing our youngest at the time and then our eldest shouted the room was on fire,” she explained.

“Some of our stuff left is really sentimental and we don’t have access to it.

“We lost two cats and other pets in the fire but this situation has made everything worse since.”

Bromford’s head of locality Natalie Robertson said: “This has obviously been a traumatic time for Mr Scott and his family. Since the fire we have been in regular contact with him over the phone and via email as we work with South Gloucestershire Council to find a temporary new home for him and his family, as well as meeting him several times at his home to allow him to recover his possessions from the flat, most recently on Monday.

“Mr Scott has access to the flat although we have advised him that due to the damage caused by the fire that he is not in the flat for long periods. We aim to start planning the repairs to the property next week once he has taken the items he needs.”