Fire crews unable to save family of four from house blaze

A mother and her three children died in a blaze at their home yesterday despite efforts by retained fire crews and striking firefighters to save them.

Crews who were not on strike arrived within a few minutes of being alerted by the family, but were beaten back by flames.

The victims – named by neighbours as Dawn Hughes, 29, and her sons Daniel, 14, Matthew, 13, and daughter Tegan, 9 – were trapped on the first floor of their three-bedroom home in the hamlet of Sleight, near Devizes, Wiltshire.

Despite "heroic'' attempts by the retained fire crews to reach the family they were unable to prevent the deaths, the Wiltshire Fire Brigade said.

The boyfriend of the dead woman managed to escape before the first crew arrived in the early hours of yesterday. He was taken to hospital but was not thought to be badly hurt.

Officials stressed that the firefighters' strike had no bearing on the attempt to rescue the family. Fifteen of the 16 fire stations in the area were manned by part-time, or retained, firefighters, who were working normally. Retained firefighters at the sixteenth station answered the call-out despite taking industrial action, because of the threat to life.

When the first two fire engines arrived at the house, smoke was billowing from both floors and the roof, and they called for back-up from other fire stations. The fire was tackled by seven crews, the first of which arrived within 13 minutes of the family's 999 call. No Green Goddess appliance was called out.

Chief Fire Officer Neil Wright, of Wiltshire Fire Brigade, said it was "fortunate" that 15 of the 16 retained stations were working as normal. "The one that is not is Calne," he said. "We did page Calne and they responded. They broke the strike because it was a life call."

Mr Wright said there were about 35 firefighters at the house at the height of the blaze. "They attempted to get into the house but the fire was so severe that they were forced out," Mr Wright said.

Station Officer Andrew Hargreaves said: "This case is unusual because it's almost completely independent of the fire strike. They were mobilised in the normal way and response times were as expected. There was some tremendous courage shown by all of the crews.''

Firefighters were working at the house – one of four farm cottages, surrounded by fields – and the bodies were removed. They are expected to be officially identified today.

Neighbours described the family as well-known and well-liked members of the community. Bob Hill, said: "All I could see was smoke billowing from the house and flashing lights. People are all shocked and it just brings back the reality that it can happen to anyone."

Ms Hughes worked as a secretary, and her parents lived near by in the village of Upavon. The two boys were pupils at Devizes School.

Police were trying yesterday to contact the children's father, who was believed to be in Cornwall. The couple divorced some time ago.

After the divorce, the father, a farm worker, was believed to have moved out of the area while Ms Hughes continued to rent the home, living there with the children.

The local vicar, the Rev Paul Wilkinson, said: "This is a tremendous shock and it will be felt right through Devizes and will have great effect on what is a close-knit community.''

The tragedy took the number of deaths in house fires during the fire strike, which ended yesterday evening, to seven. They include a 76-year-old woman who died on Wednesday night in Newtown, Powys, after fire broke out at about 7pm.

Hours later an elderly man died despite being pulled from his burning house in Burnley. In Halesowen, West Midlands, another elderly man, who lived half a mile from a fire station, died after a blaze at his flat.