Terrified couple describe the moment they escaped from their burning home in Harborough

A terrified couple were forced to flee their burning home in Market Harborough in the middle of the night as fire tore through their garage.

Paul Sanderson, 59, and his wife Sam, 54, escaped unhurt in pitch-black darkness after they were woken up by the devastating blaze at their house in Willow Crescent.

The shell-shocked couple, who had just got back from holiday, now fear they will be out of their seriously-damaged semi-detached home off Welland Park Road until Christmas.

And their next-door neighbour Kerry Williams, 47, is also having to stay in a hotel with her 13-year-old son after their home was also badly damaged in the terrifying incident.

The catastrophic fire, which caused thousands of pounds of damage, was sparked by an electrical fault in a freezer.

Standing outside his shattered house, Paul told the Harborough Mail: “It’s horrific.

“The fire has obviously come totally out of the blue and turned our lives upside down.

“It’s going to take months to sort out the mess and we could be out until Christmas.”

But showing remarkable spirit, gutsy Paul stressed: “It could have been far worse.

“Damage can be repaired and belongings replaced but people cannot be.

“Our children could have been attending our funerals but they aren’t because we both got out all right thank goodness.”

The shocking drama started at their three-bedroom property at about 3.45am on Saturday morning (October 3).

“I sleep in our back bedroom because I snore and my wife Sam sleeps above the garage.

“Sam woke up after hearing a series of loud explosions below in our garage, at the side of the house,” said Paul, who’s lived there for 29 years.

“It was just bang, bang, bang.

“I can only think that tins of paints and aerosols were exploding after the fire broke out.

“But Sam thought someone was trying to nick our RV motorhome outside on the drive.

“She woke me up and I ran down.

“We have an outside door in the passageway at the side of the house leading to the garage.

“I opened the door and the freezer was already well alight.

“I shouted at Sam to call the fire brigade,” said the dad-of-two.

“The firemen were here in about 15-20 minutes but it seemed like hours at the time.”

Dazed Paul didn’t realise but terror-stricken Sam was trapped in the heavily smoke-logged house.

“I thought she was behind me,” he said.

Taking up the dramatic story, next-door neighbour Kerry told the Mail: “I woke up and rang 999 after hearing Sam screaming and screaming.

“I looked out of the window and saw flames and smoke billowing out of their garage but couldn’t see anyone.

“I screamed at my son to get out of bed and out of the house.”

She added: “The fire brigade told me Sam was trapped in the house.

“I grabbed a baseball bat I keep by the front door to play ball with our dog in the park with.

“I dashed outside in the pouring rain still partly dressed to smash a window and try to rescue Sam.

“But luckily she’d got downstairs and managed to squeeze through a tiny window at the front as their front door was still locked.

“As you can imagine she was in bits and very upset when she got out of the house.”

Recalling those heart-stopping moments, Paul said: “It was certainly dramatic.

“It’s only a little window but it’s hinged and opens wide fortunately.

“Three fire engines, two support cars and an ambulance turned up.

“Sam and I were checked out by medics in the ambulance.

“The thick smoke and fumes burned the back of my throat but otherwise we were OK apart from being very shocked.”

Paul, who repairs and fits domestic appliances all over Harborough, said they went to shelter under a big tree on the nearby green as 12 firefighters from Market Harborough, Kibworth and Desborough battled the intense blaze using special breathing equipment.

“It was tipping it down and I was stood there in just my boxers.

“The road was cordoned off, people were coming out of their houses,” he said.

“In the chaos we’d lost our cat Molly, who’s 13.

“A fireman brought her over to us unconscious.

“She was given oxygen in the ambulance to try to revive her.

“My wife’s sister took Molly to the vet’s in Kettering but she’s still not very well.

“She was sick on Sunday night so we’re just hoping she’s going to pull through all right.”

Paul, who has a son Steven, 29, and daughter Laura, 25, said their neighbours have rallied round brilliantly.

“One man came over to me and said they’re going away for two weeks and offered me the keys to his house there and then.

“Other people have also said we can stay with them because our house stinks of smoke and is obviously uninhabitable,” he said.

“We’ve got such a great community spirit here, people couldn’t be any better.

“We are staying at the Travelodge in Market Harborough at the moment.

“Sam is very rattled, she’s very nervous and isn’t sleeping at all.

“But it could have been much worse.

“We only got back from our little break in Cromer in Norfolk on Friday afternoon.

“And it’s a very good job we had got back.

“If we hadn’t been there the fire could easily have burned down our house and Kerry’s as well before the alarm was raised,” insisted Paul.

“We’ve got no electricity, gas or water.

“All my work tools were destroyed in the garage.

“I’m trying to get through to our insurance company at the minute to get our house repaired and our hotel bills paid.

“The fire has been both heartbreaking and heartwarming.

“It’s clearly a massive blow to see the home we love in this terrible state.

“But it’s been so positive and uplifting to have so many of our fantastic neighbours offer to help us out straight away.”

To top an extraordinary start to October, Paul and Sam are due to become grandparents for the first time in the next few days.

“Steven, who lives at Long Eaton, and his partner are expecting their first baby on Thursday (October 9).

“We’d been looking forward to a very exciting week,” he said.

“But all of the clothes and toys, all kinds of stuff, we’ve bought for the baby have been ruined by smoke.

“We also bought a brand new TV for about £400 on the way home from Cromer on Friday and that’s been hit too.

“It’s just unbelievable.”

Paul said just about everyone in Willow Crescent have now gone out and bought smoke detectors after being so shocked by the drama.

Kerry, who’s also staying in a local hotel with her son, added: “I’m having nightmares.

“I keep hearing poor Sam screaming in my sleep.

“I’ve got loads of shoes, clothes and other things in my attic – and they’ve all been ruined by the smoke.”

To cap a devastating few weeks the mum’s just lost her job as a senior technical lingerie designer at Wacoal Europe in Desborough.

“I’m officially being made redundant at the end of this month after four years there.

“It never rains but it pours!

“There aren’t many jobs like mine so I’ll just have to take what ever I can for the moment,” said Kerry, who’s lived in Willow Crescent for 20 years.

“At least my insurance company have been very good.

“I’m waiting for an assessor to check over the damage to our home and all being well we’ll be able to move back in as soon as I can.”