By Helen Drew & Rebecca Cafe BBC News
Michael Tubb says the family is now deciding whether to demolish the house
A family whose house was destroyed in a heat wave fire last week watched it burn on television.
Michael Tubb first learned of the fire after seeing a breaking news alert on his phone saying that the East London Fire Service had declared a state of emergency.
After clicking on the story, he saw the name of Wennington, a village on the outskirts of the capital where his 73-year-old mother, Sandra Tubb, lived.
A few minutes later, she called him and said, “He’s gone.”
Mrs. Tubb watched the incident on television at her neighbor’s daughter’s home after it was evacuated by firefighters.
“They were watching it live on TV until at one point the camera panned over the helicopter and they saw their house in flames,” her son said.
An aerial shot shows the damage
“I turned the news back on and there was a helicopter shot of our house. This was at half past five on a Tuesday,” he said.
Their family home for 48 years was where his father died.
“I was in the garden trying to return my father’s ashes, which are the only thing that survived the terrible fire, the only thing left of our family,” he said.
The heatwave caused millions of pounds worth of damage
At its height, the fire burned an area of about 40 hectares (100 acres).
The London Fire Brigade said two detached houses, two semi-detached houses, two rows of terraced houses, two outbuildings, six single-storey garages, 12 stables and five cars were destroyed.
Miss Tubb’s possessions, including photographs and the blankets she brought her son home from hospital with as a baby, are gone.
“It’s a total loss,” her son said. “Every piece of memorabilia and anything sentimental that meant anything to her was completely gone.
“She’s desperate. She’s a very sentimental person, so she’s a lot more emotional than I would say; she’s more concerned with photos of my babies and things like that.”
Many people in Wennington have the difficult task of deciding what to do next
He added that emergency services took his mother out immediately, meaning she left “with only the clothes on her back”.
Since the fire, Mrs Tubb has been staying in a hotel arranged by Havering Council while they look for something more permanent.
The family now has the difficult task of deciding whether to demolish the entire house.
“Now I’m looking at this, there’s no floor, there’s no wall.
“It’s like a mix of when someone dies and you’re moving – so many things to try and sort out.
“Just trying to think about how we move forward with nothing, that’s the hard part.
“At no point are you expected to start your life with nothing, not a teaspoon, to know nothing at all, so we’re all trying to rally around mom and make sure she has everything.”
He added: “It’s tough. It’s been an absolutely traumatic week.”
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