Family flees Telford home blaze

Wednesday 18th August 2010, 3:25PM BST.

Fifteen-foot high flames ripped through a £20,000 camper van before spreading to a nearby house following a suspected arson attack in Telford today.

The blaze in Southgate, Sutton Hill, forced a woman and her two young children to flee to safety in the early hours of this morning.

Camper van owner William Chidlow today described how he heard smashing glass as he stood in the bathroom of his Sutton Hill home before discovering the vehicle engulfed in flames.

Neighbours were also woken by the sound of banging as the blaze took hold just after 5.45am.

A woman and her two children had to leave their home as flames licked up the side of their two-storey end terrace, causing damage to outside cladding.

An investigation was being carried out today by police and the fire service into the cause of the fire, which is being treated as of “doubtful origin”.

Mr Chidlow and his wife, Christine, had only recently moved the camper van from a secure location while the vehicle was awaiting its MOT.

The 61-year-old said: “I looked through the smaller bedroom window, which looks onto the car park and the front of it was on fire. I woke Christine and she rang the fire brigade.”

Mrs Chidlow, 60, said: “It was terrible. The fireman said when they came out of the station they could see the smoke. We couldn’t do anything, it was gone in 15 minutes.”

She said: “It has only been there three weeks, it’s usually kept in a secure place.”

The grandmother-of-three said the fire was thought to be arson.

Mr Chidlow said a canister containing cleaner used for scrambling bikes had been found in the camper van.

By Lisa Rowley

View more: Sutton Hill news.