A HEROIC father who had to drag his sleeping teenage son out of a burning house in the early hours of Saturday morning after his neighbour’s property caught fire has called on Barnsley Council to do more to support those affected.
On Saturday morning at 3.28am, four fire engines attended at Darley, Worsbrough Dale, following reports that a property was well alight.
They extinguished the blaze before leaving the scene at 5.45am.
However, they were called back at 9am after a section of the loft space collapsed into the first floor bedroom.
Richard Woodruff, 44, lives in the adjoining property and he told the Chronicle he’s lucky he and his 13-year-old son were able to make it out safely.
He said: “I opened up the window in my spare bedroom and a big flame just came towards me.
“I quickly grabbed my son who was still asleep and managed to get out.
“The fire had started at the back of the property and the smoke had already started to come into my son’s room.
“Luckily, I’m a light sleeper so I heard everything that was going off.
“It could have been so much worse.”
Richard has heaped praised on the fire service who ensured the blaze was controlled quickly.
“The firefighters were absolutely brilliant I couldn’t fault them at all,” he added.
“Four fire engines came and they cleared my house and the loft which had just started to burn.”
He’s been unable to sleep in his house since the fire, and has instead been staying at a nearby hotel.
“I’ve been staying in the hotel on Sunday, Monday and on Tuesday,” he added.
“I’ve been unable to go back home because there’s still smoke there.
“The council have boarded up the neighbour’s house.”
But Richard has been left frustrated with the support he’s received and he claims he’s been contacting the local authority for a sustained period of time stating on a number of occasions an incident like this was likely.
“The council have offered no help or responsibility whatsoever because I am privately-owned,” he said.
“I’ve been contacting the council about the property’s condition for a long time but they haven’t done anything about it.
“I’ve only just redecorated the property and now it’s all ruined.
“I was crying for hours on Monday.
“This is council negligence they didn’t do anything about this even though it was reported.
“Nothing ever seems to get done.”
Amanda Garrard, Chief Executive at Berneslai Homes said: “While we can’t comment on the investigation, we understand that this is a difficult and distressing time for people involved. We can confirm that we offered support and alternative accommodation to both our tenant and the adjoining neighbour.”
