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Wear Bay Crescent, Folkestone house fire: One year on
14:08, 06 January 2021
updated: 14:41, 06 January 2021
Pictures show the state of a row of houses one year after a huge fire tore through them.
Fire crews descended on Wear Bay Crescent in Folkestone on December 30, 2019 after calls that a house was alight.
Over the next few hours the flames spread to the two homes either side of it and at its peak eight fire engines, a height vehicle and bulk water carrier were on scene to help bring the blaze under control.
In the days that followed, the middle house was completely demolished, and the ones either side were left destroyed.
Pictures taken a few days ago show one house surrounded by scaffolding, and the other fenced off with a huge hole in its roof.
Ben Hills, owner of the house covered in scaffolding, was on holiday when he heard about the fire and rushed home to find his house ablaze.
A few possessions were salvaged, including the family cat Katniss, but 90% of their belongings were lost.
Mr Hills, his wife Louise and son George are still living in rented accommodation one year after the huge fire, believed to have started accidentally.
But a planned rebuild is expected to start later this month.
He said: "It still feels surreal to think our house burnt down.
"It has been a tricky year. Covid has meant there have been delays on the re-build. But we are finally there and the builders are due on site."
Mr Hills said it was a challenge listing their belongings, which had to be claimed through insurers.
He said: "We had to write down everything we owned and lost to make a claim.
"But it's not just the sofas and TVs, which you can buy new in a shop, that we lost. It's the things you can't replace, that you've picked up along the way.
"Stuff our parents have given us and childhood memories. That's the real tragedy because we can't replace them.
"We did get some stuff out on that first night, and we are grateful for that."
Mr Hills explained a lot of the damage was a result of the vast amounts of water pumped onto the homes to tackle the fire.
"If the fire doesn't get it, the water does, he said. "So even stuff on the ground floor, away from the fire, is trashed. As soon as you lose the roof, the water just pumps in."
It is not known what is happening to the third house, which remains in a partially destroyed state.
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