Kentish Express Ashford & District
Families flee as blaze
Gratitude for ‘heroic’ battle of fire crews
Families were evacuated from their homes after a huge blaze in a terrace of houses near Tenterden town centre.
The fire in Golden Square last Wednesday evening gutted a house and took around seven hours to get under control.
Fire crews were called out at around 7.20pm.
At its height, around 35 firefighters, with eight fire engines, a height vehicle and a command support unit, were tackling the fire, which is understood to have started on the ground floor of a threestorey property and spread quickly.
Robert Gibb, a corporate sales director, who lives close to the badly damaged row of houses with his wife and children, described the dramatic scenes.
He said: “We heard all the commotion, smelt smoke and saw a lot of activity over there.
“My understanding is that thankfully they all got out and no one was hurt, which is fantastic.
“But the houses look gutted. You can see daylight through the roof.
“It was pretty dramatic to watch. Quite a lot of people were evacuated from neighbouring houses.
“There were so many firemen there and they were just amazing. They really were heroic in their relentless effort to extinguish the fire and stop it spreading.”
Crews wearing breathing apparatus used hose reel jets, covering jets and fog spikes to tackle the blaze from inside and outside the property.
Police provided traffic control and evacuated neighbouring properties to a refuge set up by Ashford council. There were no reports of injuries although two cats died while another was saved.
A spokesman for Ashford Borough Council said: “The council set up a rest centre for affected residents.
“Subsequent to this, two households were put into temporary emergency accommodation last night but have since been able to return home.
“The council will, of course, give further support and signposting to affected residents as necessary.”
‘The houses look gutted. You can see daylight through the roof’