Gloucestershire woman and two children killed in Boxing Day house fire | Gloucestershire
A woman and two children, aged seven and four, died in a fire in the early hours of Boxing Day after their father, an off-duty police officer, tried to save them.
The officer emerged from the stone cottage in the Cotswolds and tried to enter his children’s bedroom from the outside to save them but was driven back by the flames.
His wife’s body was found and the body of one of the children was also found in the country house on the terrace. Search and rescue experts are still searching for the body of the second child.
Gloucestershire police did not treat the fire as suspicious and to say They believe it was a tragic accident. The unnamed family is said to be popular and well-liked in the Brimscombe Hill area of Stroud.
Speaking at police headquarters in Gloucester, Det Supt Ian Fletcher said emergency services were called to a “major” fire at 3am the next day.
Fletcher said the parents woke up in the early hours because of the fire. “They tried to reach their children in the back bedroom, but could not reach the back bedroom due to the intensity and heat of the fire.
“The father left the house by breaking the bathroom window to reach the child’s bedroom from outside. He could not enter through the bedroom window. Then he tried to re-enter the house through the bathroom window. Meanwhile, the fire also engulfed the bathroom and he could not go upstairs.
“He then went downstairs and attempted to force his way in through the front and back doors but was unable to get back into the property at which point our colleagues from emergency services, fire police etc arrived on scene and began tackling the fire.”
The man was treated in hospital. The fire is believed to have started on the ground floor and moved upwards, Fletcher said. He said the roof collapsed.
The body of an adult female believed to be a mother was recovered. The body of a child was also found but is still there. The search for the second child’s body continues. The girl was seven years old and the boy was four. It is not yet known which one was found.
Fletcher said: “Her husband is a Gloucestershire constable and he is working with us to try to understand exactly what happened.”
“We have had numerous witnesses describe his anguish and his inability to go in and save his children and wife. He is a much-loved officer in Gloucestershire Constabulary. He worked for us for a number of years.”
Gloucestershire’s deputy chief fire officer, Nathaniel Hooton, said an urban search and rescue team from Avon fire and rescue service assisted in the rescue effort. He said firefighters “did everything they could” to enter the home to save the family.
Stroud district council leader Chloe Turner said the community was stunned. “The family is known and loved locally,” he said.
