Worcester Park fire: Father speaks of heartbreak after 'losing everything' in horror flat blaze

Jacob Jarvis9 September 2019

A Worcester Park resident has spoken of his devastation after his family's possessions were destroyed by a horror blaze at the four-storey block this morning.

The block of flats in Sherbrooke Way was engulfed in flames in an early hours inferno , with twenty fire engines and 125 firefighters sent to battle the blaze.

Images showed a charred frame left behind after firefighters got the blaze shortly after 6.30am.

There have been no reports of injuries and the cause of the fire is unknown.

Resident Stephen Nobrega, 40, spoke of his devastation at the loss of his belongings due to the incident.

There were flames on every floor of the building
@LondonFire

"I've lost everything. The most important thing is everyone's alive, there are no fatalities to my knowledge," he said.

"But everything we had in there - from simple things like clothes to sentimental stuff which you'll never get back - I've got photos of the kids on family holidays, sentimental bits and pieces gone forever ... it's heart-breaking."

Mr Nobrega, who has three children aged 13, six, and eight months, was awoken by his partner in the middle of the night after the fire took hold.

More than 100 firefighters rushed to the scene
London Fire Brigade/PA Wire

He said: "I was woken up by my missus at about 1.20am, screaming and shouting: 'Fire! Fire!'

"I heard a lot of residents outside and by that point somebody was already banging on my window and pressing my buzzer so I knew it was quite serious.

"I got out of bed, got what you see me wearing on, got the kids with something on and managed to get us all out safely, which is the main thing."

The block was decimated by the blaze (PA Wire/Ryan Hooper)
PA

Mr Nobrega, who lives in a part-owned, part-rented flat on the ground floor, added: "I could hear alarms going off but it was only when I was outside and could see the plume of smoke coming out.

"The top right corner is where the fire started, in that area.

"Within about 20 minutes, fairly quick, it started ripping through, going from apartment to apartment, right to left, and then it started going down and caught alight on the other side.

"Speaking to one of the firefighters down there he said my apartment seems to have survived, but the water damage is horrendous.

"It's gone."

Mr Nobrega praised the emergency services for getting the blaze under control.

He said: "Fair play to them, I've never seen so many fire engines turn up.

"It's taken them all night to bring it under control, but, to see it at its full rage, it's a job and a half. I take my hat off to them.​"

Firefighters were called to the scene at 1.27am and the blaze was out by 6.31am.

Every floor of the building had been alight.

The fire service said 999 control officers had received 29 calls about the fire.

Group Manager Rick Ogden, who was at the scene, said: "On arrival, crews were faced with a well developed and intense fire.

"This was a challenging fire involving all floors of a four storey building. Firefighters worked hard to bring the blaze under control."

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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