Devastation remains a month on from heatwave fires

Last month, Kim Yeomans watched her daughter Kerry's house burn down in Birmingham, leaving nothing behind.

"She was just absolutely broken, devastated. We had to hold her back. She was screaming, crying," Yeomans said.

While their two dogs escaped, the family had been on their way to a caravan holiday in Skegness at the time, meaning they could not rescue any of their belongings.

They raced back and had to watch the house burn to the ground.

"It was just horrendous and, as a mother, you don't want to see that for your child. Not for anybody," she said.

Kerry's house on Hillmeads Road in King's Norton was one of about a dozen that burned down in Birmingham on 13 August.

Dozens more houses were consumed by fire in the West Midlands on the hottest day of the year, during the UK's hottest summer on record.

In Stourbridge, 19 homes were lost, alongside four in Stoke-on-Trent, three in Pershore, Worcestershire, and three in Willenhall, near Wolverhampton.

In the hours after the blazes started, fire crews across the region admitted they were stretched, with fires also breaking out in Shropshire and Warwickshire.

London Fire Brigade said it answered 754 calls in support of West Midlands Fire Service and Staffordshire Fire Service as part of national arrangements.

The unprecedented scale of the day was summed up by West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) watch commander, Paul Bayliss, who was one of the first firefighters on the scene in Stourbridge.

"I've been to some huge fires... scrapyard fires and building fires. This is the most harrowing, complex, dynamic, scary, personally challenging for me," Bayliss told the BBC.

"I've never known anything like it."

Crews had already had a busy morning attending to grass fires as the West Midlands sizzled in the heat.

In the afternoon, they were inundated with calls about fires in Stourbridge, with Bayliss among those responding.

He said they quickly got a picture of what they were dealing with as they drove towards the scene.

"It was almost like a tsunami of fire and smoke coming at us. Everyone went really quiet in the cab," he said.

Turning up at Quarry Park Road, Bayliss said it was "absolute chaos", admitting it felt scary and apocalyptic.

"There was, I'd say a couple of hundred people lining the streets just waving us on," he said.

"You could see the emotion in the faces."

As a watch commander, Bayliss can usually ask for more resources to tackle a blaze, but the unprecedented nature of the day meant he was unable to get more help.

"I asked for 10 fire engines. I wanted 40... I'd have taken two," he said.

"That's when it just hit home that I'm not going to be able to actively, proactively go and put these fires out like we normally would in any house fire."

With limited resources and four houses burning in front of him, Bayliss felt the pressure weighing on his shoulders.

The watch commander said that day was probably the most arduous he had ever been involved in during his 24 years on the job.

Clad in firefighter's uniform in 36C degrees, with heat beating down on him, the temperature took its toll.

"It was oppressive to the point where I did collapse at one point after an hour or so," Bayliss said.

"I lay down and I had this moment of clarity where... I just knew I had to get back up, because there was no one else coming to... help."

He vividly remembers one of the houses that had almost completely burnt down, with the owner begging him to extinguish his garage.

Bayliss said: "I had to look the chap in the eye and say, I'm so sorry sir, your house is gone.

"It's quite harrowing to be honest."

Loxie Williams and her husband Robin lost their four-bedroom home in Stourbridge, which they had lived in for 26 years.

She told the BBC they had been out with friends when the fire started.

"When we got [back] it was such a shock for people to be telling you to turn around, you can't get through," she said.

Now, their remaining possessions include a teacup, some paperwork and a few items of burnt clothing left from a pile of ironing in the kitchen.

After the fire, she said they thanked the firefighters, who had "tried to do their best", adding they were grateful to them for visiting after to apologise for not being able to save their home.

Looking at the shell of their house now, she asked: "How do you pick your threads up?

"For all those years you collect all the things that you need. They're all gone.

"You've got to think what do you need all over again."

Despite their loss, she said there were many happy memories associated with their home.

"I look at it and think what a happy house this has been," she said.

"This [house] will be demolished and we can get on trying to rebuild our lives, but that's not easy."

For Kim Yeomans's daughter and her family, they are painfully aware of the loss the fires have caused.

In a statement, read by her mother in a BBC interview, Kerry said: "In such a short space of time, a fire took away our home and everything we owned. Our belongings, precious memories, so many things that can never be replaced are gone.

"We're trying to take things one day at a time and work out where to go from here.

"It's incredibly difficult, especially for the girls and we're doing our best to stay strong for each other."

Yeoman said the mental toll was also huge, with family members experiencing anxiety and nightmares.

Kerry, her daughters and her partner Richard are still staying in a caravan in Skegness while they wait to be rehoused by Birmingham City Council - who Kim credits with being "phenomenal" in supporting the family.

But the separation is also difficult for Kim. She said: "All I want to do is hold them and tell them that it's going to be okay.

"And I want to make sure that they're safe and that they're doing well. It's just extremely difficult to see them lose their whole life."

She has set up a fundraising page to help her daughter's family get back on their feet, with people donating from USA and Canada.

"It's not going to replace all their comforts but it's a start in the right direction," she said.

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