A mother and her two young children died in a Boxing Day house fire in Gloucestershire, despite the desperate rescue attempts of the father, a serving police officer who survived the blaze. The woman in her 40s and her children, aged seven and four, perished in the fire that engulfed their mid-terrace Cotswold stone cottage on Brimscombe Hill near Stroud around 3am.
The father awoke to the fire alongside his wife and made multiple attempts to reach their children, trapped in a rear bedroom. Detective Superintendent Ian Fletcher told reporters outside Gloucestershire Police headquarters: «They have been unable to get to the back bedroom due to the ferocity of the fire.»
The police officer smashed his way out through a bathroom window in a desperate bid to reach his children from outside. Fletcher described the harrowing sequence: «The father has smashed his way out of the house through a bathroom window in order to try to access the children's bedroom via the outside. He has been unable to enter the property via that bedroom window. He has then tried to re-enter the property through the bathroom window, by which stage the fire has taken hold in the bathroom and he's unable to get back into the upstairs bedrooms. He has subsequently gone downstairs and tried to force entry via the front and the back door but has been unable to get back inside to the property. [...]»
Emergency services arrived as the blaze's intensity beat back the father's rescue attempts. The fire caused the roof to fall in and ceilings and stairs to collapse. By Sunday, authorities recovered the bodies of the mother and one child, though formal identification awaits completion. The property's unstable condition delays recovery of the second child's body.
Investigation ongoing
Police do not treat the fire as suspicious. Fletcher said: «This would appear to be a tragic accident that's occurred in the early hours of Boxing Day. [...]» Authorities launched an investigation alongside Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service to determine the cause. Investigators believe the fire started on the ground floor.
The surviving father remains hospitalized and is working with authorities to understand what happened. Fletcher described the officer's ordeal: «We have multiple witnesses who describe the anguish that he was going through, his inability to get in and save his children and save his wife. He is, as you can imagine, in a very distraught way. Sadly, lost his family at a time which is supposed to be a happy festive period.»
Fletcher added: «[...] The surviving member of this family is a serving police officer at Gloucestershire Constabulary and again our hearts and prayers go out to him and all of his colleagues who know him very well. [...]»
A cordon remains in place at the address and emergency services expect to remain for several days as the investigation progresses.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
