The family of an arson attack which destroyed there home in Bloxwich talk to the Express & Star
A family that escaped an arson attack have spoken to us of there gratefulness for support from the community, that have come forward with items for the family. They lost everything in the fire, clothes, children's toys, and precious photos and memories. People have been arrested for the attack on the Bloxwich home.
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00:00When you're ready then, Dan.
00:02Yeah, so I'm here with one of Wayne. How you doing? You okay?
00:04Not too bad.
00:05Obviously, you've just been through a very devastating and devastating blaze.
00:09We have, yes.
00:11But from that, obviously, there's been an amazing appeal come across with
00:15pretty much the whole community helping out, donating stuff.
00:17I mean, it's got to be nice seeing the whole community.
00:19It's overwhelming. Like you said, you settle down at night time
00:24and it's like you start thinking about what people have done for you
00:27and pulled together.
00:29And to be honest, I sat there last night and started to cry
00:33thinking of what people have done.
00:35Because it's so, well, you don't expect it really, do you?
00:38No.
00:39No.
00:40But I mean, seeing, because obviously,
00:43Arne's been out grabbing all the stuff as well.
00:46You've seen all the stuff in there.
00:47Some of it might not be usable because of like shoe size, sizes and whatnot.
00:50But just having that notion of people giving the stuff to you
00:55and helping out the best that they can.
00:57So, yeah, if we could just talk a little bit about the fire itself.
01:01Obviously, it's still an ongoing investigation.
01:03We can't talk too much about it, but it's devastating, isn't it?
01:06It was. It was quite shocking when it happened
01:08because obviously me and my three boys were in the house at the time.
01:11I heard it, got the kids out the back
01:14and I got lovely neighbours next door to us.
01:16Their house obviously went up as well.
01:19But they got my children and myself over the wall.
01:22If they weren't there, I think I'd have had to probably,
01:25I'd have a broken leg or a broken arm off with the kids or myself.
01:28Yeah.
01:29But I'm grateful they was there.
01:31It was like phoning around getting my partner back and my sister-in-law back.
01:36To hear the voices over the phone, it was quite shocking.
01:41It was a struggle.
01:44But like you say, everybody has pulled together
01:48and I'm really grateful for what they've done.
01:51Do you want to...?
01:54Well, it's amazing how many people are out there.
01:57Not everybody's bad or anything.
02:00And they do contribute, either.
02:02So the way I look at it, there is some decent people out there
02:06and there's good and bad out there,
02:08but there's more good than really bad by the looks of it.
02:11I mean, you see all this stuff in the news
02:15about the deterioration of the community around Blakenham.
02:19But I think seeing the absolute lengths that people have gone to
02:23just to offer you anything that they can,
02:25I mean, that must affect you so much.
02:27Blakenham was a nice place when we first moved there,
02:29but somehow it's just changed.
02:31Changed in the last two years, actually.
02:33Two or three years, it seems to have gone even worse.
02:37It is, yeah.
02:39It's like what?
02:40People coming into Blakenham.
02:42Yeah, people coming in.
02:43Yeah, the people at the movie and all.
02:46I mean, the last time I looked at the Facebook comments,
02:51I think there was about 40 people on there,
02:53and then it obviously just skyrocketed from there.
02:55People offering, I mean, shoes.
02:57I mean, I believe someone's donated to television as well.
03:00I mean, not every day you get a TV donated to.
03:04We've had lots of pots and pans and bedding, you know.
03:07They have done wonders.
03:09Obviously it goes through all my sister-in-law.
03:13She goes there and collects it all up.
03:16It's an absolutely amazing job they've all done.
03:19Absolutely, yeah.
03:20It's shocking as well because I believe it was at your youngest birthday?
03:23On the day before.
03:24On the day before as well.
03:25Yeah, he'd just turned five.
03:27Yeah, I'm guessing he had most of his presents.
03:30All of his presents apart from one Spider-Man T-shirt.
03:32That's all he had left, and that's what his wedding was wearing.
03:36Have people been trying to donate?
03:38We've had so much Spider-Man stuff falling
03:40because he's obviously a little boy that doesn't like Spider-Man.
03:44He goes mad for it.
03:46But yeah, it's so overwhelming.
03:50I am really happy and pleased with what people have done.
03:54Has it sort of reinvigorated your sense of community with the area?
03:59Not yet.
04:00That is good out there, but as bad as rough.
04:04But there's more good than there is bad, I hope.
04:07I think that's what this shows, isn't it?
04:09When times get really tough and it's really trying,
04:13the amount of people that will actually come out and help out.
04:16You don't expect it though, do you?
04:18But then when it starts to come, it's quite heartbreaking
04:23that things like this can actually happen to some families.
04:27It's like, what do you expect?
04:29And then families do come, help.
04:34I tell you what, the street was full of people trying to help that day as well.
04:40I'm quite happy and pleased with what they've all put together.
04:42We'll move back there.
04:44I'll move back there, yeah.
04:46I'll get some builders or something from somewhere,
04:48or appeal to some builders and get some work done on the area.
04:52Well, it's a thing.
04:53I can fully imagine almost everybody on that street is going to be there
04:55to help you out as well.
04:56Yeah.
04:59So what's the sort of...
05:01Because you're staying in temporary accommodation now.
05:04We don't really need to know where it is.
05:07What's the living conditions now, obviously?
05:09Two bedrooms.
05:11One with a double bed in and one with two single beds in.
05:16It's not the best, but it's better than nothing.
05:19It's like I'm his full-time carer as well,
05:21so I have to run backwards and forwards through the night
05:23to make sure he's okay.
05:24It's a real problem, isn't it?
05:25Yeah.
05:26That's the way it's always been.
05:28I pay for that as well, so it's a real problem, yeah.
05:31Yeah.
05:32Well, I mean, it's helping at the end of the day.
05:34It's better than sleeping in a box.
05:36Oh, yeah.
05:38And just talking about the loss of the house from there,
05:41I mean, it's not just the items inside, it's obviously...
05:44Memories, because he's lived there a long time.
05:46It was his mum and dad's house.
05:47I've lived there...
05:4930-odd years?
05:5040.
05:5140 years, I have, yeah.
05:53But there's always been silly things going on around.
05:55Always.
05:57That's just...
05:58Yeah, because he's black, isn't he?
05:59Yeah.
06:00Which is a lot of...
06:01I mean, it's a lot of...
06:02You never think it's going to happen to you, but it does.
06:04Yeah.
06:05It's the thing.
06:06You never think that you're going to be a victim to something like this.
06:08No.
06:09But, like, when it does, it's completely shocking.
06:11Yeah, you don't realise now.
06:12You don't realise how devastating it is to what happens to yourself.
06:15It's like with, like, all your memories of your parents,
06:17your mum and dad, the photos that we have of them.
06:19We have literally lost a lot.
06:21Yeah.
06:22That's like, I mean, you can...
06:23Like with the appeal, you can get items back.
06:26Yeah, but the memories, you can't.
06:28You can't get memories back.
06:29You're not going to be able to get those back.
06:31There's certain things you can't replace.
06:34No, it's devastating.
06:35Kid's aches and things like that.
06:37Have the boys been handled?
06:38Because, obviously, they would have...
06:40They obviously saw a lot of it as well.
06:42Have they been handled?
06:43The two was outside at the time, but the oldest one, excuse me,
06:47he was there at the same time as I saw it all.
06:50But I managed to get the door shut away from it all and out.
06:55Pardon?
06:58You rolled his parents in it.
07:00It was amazing.
07:01I mean, like, you know, was it like a...
07:04As soon as you saw what happened,
07:05was it like a jump into action sort of thing?
07:07It was, yeah.
07:08Like, straight in.
07:09I literally grabbed him, pushed him out the way,
07:11shut my living room door and literally ran out the back door.
07:14I got back to the other door in the front room.
07:16I was straight on to the garden.
07:18And then the neighbours were there.
07:20My middle one, he shaded over for help off of them
07:23and they was there in literally seconds doing it all.
07:26It's amazing, isn't it?
07:27I mean, especially with...
07:28They must have been worried about their house.
07:30Oh, yeah. We don't even know our neighbours.
07:32No, we should get to know them.
07:34Yeah.
07:35It's nice to know it wasn't their first thought,
07:38it was, like, my house, let's get the kids out of there.
07:41Yeah.
07:42You know, help you as a parent.
07:43They did. I'll tell you, that was amazing.
07:45They were quickly responsible, the response they did to us.
07:48Yeah.
07:49And obviously, the things, like,
07:51the kids just come with what they had on.
07:53Nicklin had a T-shirt, nothing else on.
07:56My middle one, he had no shoes on.
07:59And he was, I think it was just shorts and shoes, wasn't it?
08:02Mm-hm.
08:03But it was, like, quite of a shock.
08:05Yeah. It's funny to imagine.
08:07Was there any sort of wider thanks
08:09that you'd like to put out to the community or anything?
08:11I'd like a great big thanks to everybody who's done everything for us.
08:15OK.
08:17Marion, especially, she's been an absolute superstar.
08:23I don't know where we would have actually been without any of you.
08:26So I really do appreciate and thank you ever so much.
08:29Absolutely.
08:30And obviously, we don't want to...
08:32You might not want to put out another appeal,
08:34but is there anything specifically that you do need,
08:36anything major that you do need that you can help with?
08:39Builders.
08:40Yes, a roof.
08:41Builders.
08:42Yeah.
08:43I know it sounds a bit cheek, but anybody out there
08:45can help us with builders.
08:47It's nice to know that even with terrible circumstances,
08:51you're still doing the sort of thing every now and then.
08:54If I died, I'd probably sit there and cry all day.
08:57I've got to stay strong.
08:59You can't change the situation, can you?
09:01You can't change it, you know what I mean?
09:03It's happened, it's happened. You can't change it.
09:05I mean, you've got your family still.
09:07I tell you what, I'm grateful for my sister,
09:09the way she's put stuff in everything.
09:11She's been amazing.
09:13I love one of your kids.
09:16That's fantastic. Thank you very much, too.
09:18No worries.