The Keswick couple left homeless after fire ripped through their family home of nearly 50 years have thanked the community for the “amazing” offers of help.
Retired Robin and Jenny Humphreys have been deeply touched by the reaction after their home of 48 years on High Hill was left uninhabitable.
The blaze started aboard their camper van parked on the drive with flames then spreading to the roof space of the semi-detached property.
Back at the scene to check on others affected, the couple thanked the emergency services and those who have flocked to help them.
People have offered to do washing after the property was waterlogged in the effort to put out the fire.
There have also been surprise donations of clothes, bedding, collections at local churches and offers to put them up.
In the immediate aftermath, friends and people with holiday lets, second homes or spare rooms rushed to offer a roof over their heads – including one of the Keswick fire fighters called out to the incident.
Robin, 80, and Jenny, 78, have been temporarily rehoused in a holiday cottage off Penrith Road, and are being supported by their friends and children, including daughter Jane Halewood.
The couple are now looking for a 12-month lease on a property in the town.
Ms Halewood, who came down from Fort William, said: “It is going to take a while to process but they are safe and sound.
“As children, we weren’t local, and we have had to rely on neighbours.
“We knew instantly that they were completely safe in their hands. We are just so grateful to people in Keswick – otherwise they would have been completely homeless and lost.
“We grew up here and they are just in temporary accommodation at the moment but the help from friends and the community has been amazing. Keswick Mountain Rescue have been fantastic as well. Dad was a member for 40 years — they have all rallied.”
Jenny appeared stoic this week despite the devastation at the property where the roof is gutted, doors boarded up, windows shattered and the driveway excavated by the utility companies to isolate power.
Jenny said: “Everyone has been ever so kind. On Sunday, we had to go out for a walk and met a stranger and they asked us if we had seen the fire on High Hill and we said: ‘Yes — it was ours.’
“Immediately people tried to gather clothes for us because we had nothing other than what we were standing up in.
“Somebody had a mother living in Workington and they went to Asda for us. She came through with underwear, pyjamas and toothbrushes – all the things you would need for one night.”
Robin said the recovery of the house and that of next door, which had been extensively renovated this year but was unoccupied at the time, would mean a long road lay ahead.
He said: “People have been so very supportive including our church St John’s, and Crosthwaite, and the Catholic Church.”
The couple were taken in on Friday night by near neighbours Peter and Sue Roberts who live along the street.
Neighbour Mrs Roberts also hailed the community response. She said: “At six o’clock on Friday night all they knew they had was the clothes they stood up in.
“They were worried about what to do and then a phone call came saying ‘I think we’ve got some accommodation for you and that has been offered three times now. There have been so many kind gestures.
“People don’t do it for recognition – the doorbell will ring and we will find a bag of clothes been left. People are so understanding here.”
Husband Peter added: “We’ve been neighbours for over 40 years and you just do what neighbours do. I think the police and fire brigade and paramedics were marvellous.
“We have had a number of calls from people to wish them well and make offers of help. It speaks volumes for Keswick. The town has been flooded three times so we know how people are in this area – it’s just another benefit of living here.”
At the time of the fire, the pair had been in their garden and had to be driven back by firefighters and watch on as the flames spread.
Firefighters from Keswick fire station were first on the scene with both an appliance and its wild fire unit. Large gas cylinders aboard the camper van had to be delicately extracted with the van also having a full tank of fuel.
Keswick crew manager Keith Graves said it was among the most serious house fires in Keswick’s history with the possibility of a roof collapse.
Mr Graves said: “I’m relieved everyone’s safe and well with all persons accounted for.”
Crews from Patterdale, Aspatria, Ambleside, Cockermouth, and Whitehaven also helped with an aerial ladder platform from Carlisle also working long into the night to get water on from above.
