Family speak of horror after house fire leaves them homeless

Liam Brady pictures with fiance Kirsty with daughters Stevie-Leigh Brady Wilson (front) and Leona Ruby Wilson. The family escaped a fire at their home in Penshaw.

Liam Brady was home in Model Terrace, Penshaw, with Leona, 10, and six-year-old Stevie-Leigh when the fire broke out on Saturday March 6.

“I was downstairs when the smoke alarm went off. I went to the bottom of the stairs and I saw an orange glow reflected on the wall,” said Liam, 31.

An electrical fault within the wall had started a fire in the main bedroom where Liam and fiancee Kirty Wilson, 29, sleep.

Liam and Kirsty with daughters Stevie-Leigh Brady Wilson (front) and Leona Ruby Wilson

“The wall of our bedroom was on fire under the window,” said Liam. “The two kids were in the bedroom directly opposite ours.”

Both girls had earphones on and had not heard the alarm. “Leona was on her Playstation and the little one was on her phone, so they were totally oblivious,” said Liam.

“I grabbed both of them and shouted to get downstairs. When they saw the fire, I have never seen two kids so scared in my life.

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"We ran downstairs and I grabbed a bucket but by the time I got back upstairs, the whole room was on fire. That was the point of no return, really.”

The three ran out of the house and Liam phoned Kirsty, who was with a friend nearby. She arrived just in time to see the bedroom window blow out.

There was confusion before the fire brigade arrived: “My friend’s partner ran upstairs to see where the kids were but everybody was already out by that time,” said Liam.

“I was round in the garden and nobody knew where we were.”

Now the family are staying with relatives while they wait to be rehoused: "Our main bedrooom is totally ash, in the two kids’ bedrooms absolutely everything above knee height is melted and the downstairs is waterlogged,” said Liam.

A Go Fund Me page set up by family friend Katherine Mason-Gage has raised more than £3,000 for the family and gifts have flooded in

"It has been absolutely amazing, the support and help we have received,” said Liam.

“People from all over the UK have been sending donations. Gateshead fire station have been out and they have dropped a brand new telly off.

Liam and Kirsty with Leona (front left) and Stevie-Leigh

“The phrase ‘Thank you’ does not seem enough.”

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