Radio Features

Two women involved in rescuing a Telford family from their burning home have spoken about their emotions at the time, and why they had to confront the fire.

Neighbours rescued a family from the burning house

Adrian Hemming, 37, Andrea Partington, 34, and her two children Jack, 9, and Regan, 6, were rescued after the suspicious blaze on Tuesday 9 June. Mr Hemming later died.

Caroline and Jason Welsh and Linda Beck are neighbours in Sunderland Drive, Leegomery. They took action when they saw smoke billowing from the house. Mrs Welsh said: "Your instinct is to go in and help even though you shouldn't."

"I was really very upset," Ms Beck explained, "because Jason was determined to get in there and get the children out, he was screaming 'there's kids in there, there's kids in there.'"

According to Mrs Welsh they used a piece of rockery to break down the front door: "There just didn't seem to be any life coming back."

The actions of neighbours were praised by Det Ch Insp Alan Edwards: "I would say that they were very, very brave people in what they did.

"Am I going to say to people 'go into houses that are burning?' I'm not a fire officer, I'm a police officer, but what I am also is a family man, and I'd say they were very brave in what they did, helping that family to get out."