New Year Blaze (From Barry And District News)

New Year Blaze

A FAMILY escaped what could have been a New Year tragedy - because they were out when a firework ripped through their Barry home and exploded.

The Pearce family, who live on Romilly Road, were on their way back from seeing in 2006 in the Lake District on Monday when they received the message that a rocket had hit the roof of their house.

The firework tore through the roof, and exploded on the first floor landing just half an hour into the new year, causing potentially tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage.

The fire service believes the large rocket detoured from someone else"s New Year celebrations, and the incident is currently being investigated.

The firework almost ruined both landings in the Pearces" three-storey home, and rooms that were left open - for example the family"s sitting room - were also wrecked by smoke.

Adam Pearce, aged 18, whose room is nearest to where the firework exploded, had shut his door before leaving the house.

As a result the contents were virtually unscathed - but, according to brother Luke, aged 20, if Adam had been in his room and had opened the door at the time of the explosion, "his face would almost certainly have been blown off".

Parents Tim and Beatrice are uncertain when they will be able to move back into their home, due to the extent of the damage.

They, along with Adam, a pupil at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf, and Luke, a second year student at Cambridge University, were initially put up by neighbours Laurence and Jane Blight, but have since moved into a hotel.

Tim, a self-employed publisher, said: "I think the fire service were called straight away.

"Apparently, if they had come five minutes later, we would not have had a house left.

"Although we were not there, we heard the fire service were really professional and saved the house.

"I have never been keen on fireworks for domestic use," he added.

"They should not be used in built-up areas. There need to be professional people in charge.

"This is a big lesson to be learnt."

Luke said: "We didn"t find out about what happened until we were driving from the Lake District on Monday, so at least we got to enjoy New Year"s Day!"

But he added: "Whenever you go away and something happens, you always know at least your house will be there when you get back.

"So that is the most distressing thing."

While the property is totally insured, Beatrice, a supply teacher, is concerned that the original character of her home has been lost.

"It was such a nice house," she said.

"You can buy another TV, but you cannot replace a 100-year-old door frame or glass pane. Things like that are irreplaceable."

But she added: "One thing I am glad about is that I am not wracked with guilt about the incident.

"It wasn"t our fault: it wasn"t as if we left the house with too many plugs in a socket."

Tim also emphasised how grateful he is for the Blights" hospitality.

"There is such a great community spirit in Barry," he said.

"People are really prepared to help you out when you are up against it."

"We all mucked in," said neighbour Jane Blight.

"It was the least we could do."

Station commander at Barry Fire Station Geoff Wyatt said: "This is an extremely rare occurrence where we believe a firework - presumably from someone's New Year celebrations - went straight through a tiled roof and caused quite a serious fire in the landing area of the house.

"We are currently looking into the situation.