West Sussex couple lose everything after devastating house fire just before Christmas

Sue and Geoff Mostyn were awake when their house – in High Street, Angmering – caught fire on Friday evening (December 16).

“I heard a little popping sound and I recognised it straight away as an electrical trip,” Geoff said. “I thought I better get up and see why.

"I walked through to the kitchen from the lounge and there was this orange glow from outside. I looked round the corner and all the bins were alight.

"I got outside but I couldn't get to the hose. I looked up into the roof space and you could see this red glow between the tiles and I realised the fire had shot up between the rafters up into the roof space.

"I then screamed to my wife to get herself and the dogs out the house.”

Geoff said he and his wife Sue – both in their 70s – were ‘suddenly standing outside in the freezing cold’, in the clothes they were wearing and watching their home of 45 years burn.

"I had just come out of hospital the night before and I was feeling fairly weak anyway,” Geoff said. “To have this suddenly happen knocks you for six.

"All of a sudden, you have nothing.”

Firefighters were sent to the blaze shortly before 10pm. Eight appliances and an aerial ladder platform from West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service attended – supported by East Sussex crews and Sussex Police officers.

Firefighters, wearing breathing apparatus, extinguished the blaze in the roof space of the property by 2am. Crews remained at the scene the following day to dampen down hotspots and ‘carry out salvage operations’. Click here to see more photos from the scene.

Geoff said the fire brigade turned up within ten minutes of his emergency call. "I couldn't speak highly enough of the way they worked and what they did for us,” he said. “They were absolutely amazing.”

Geoff also thanked his neighbours who rallied together to make sure the couple were kept warm with a hot drink and extra clothing.

He added: "People we didn't even know took us inside their house. The neighbours have been fantastic.

“We've got wonderful friends and people have been so helpful and generous to try and help us through this initial stage. I've received various gifts of clothing and various things as we had nothing to wear. You can't go to a drawer and get clothes because it's all gone.

“Friends have put us up, which is great, but there will come a time later on when we will have to find a place to stay.”

Geoff said it is only by chance that he hadn’t already gone upstairs to bed and heard the start of the fire, at the back of the property.

“We are here and we are alive to tell the tale,” he said. " Another 15 minutes, I would have been in bed and I wouldn't be talking to you now.

“We've had forensic officers there and they have given their report, which has been accepted by the insurance company. They will cover everything.

“I had some really nice furniture downstairs which they saved but, the upstairs – including the roof – is gone.

"The ancillary things are totally ruined with water damage. I went to let the scaffolders in this (Friday, December 23) morning and I was paddling in two inches of water in my kitchen. It's heartbreaking to see.”

Geoff also had a special thank you for his god-daughter, Victoria Butcher, from Worthing – who has set up a fundraising page to give Sue and Geoff short-term support. So far, more than £750 has been donated by the local community.

Geoff said: “We would like to thank anybody who has donated. It's heartwarming and really appreciated. I've had things and I don't know who they're from. There are some very nice people out there.

“I don't want people thinking we are taking charity when we are fully insured. When things like this happen, moneys don't come immediately.

"It's going to take at least nine months before anything happens. It's not the best time to happen, as you can't get contractors in. It's also a listed property so we've got to work with conservation officers.”

Victoria said her god-parents have lost a ‘substantial amount of their belongings’ but people in the community ‘have really pulled together’ to help the couple.

“It’s devastating, especially at this time of the year,” she said. “Thank you for all your concerns at this awful time. I understand it’s a hard time with money at the moment but anything you can donate can help them will be greatly appreciated.” Click here if you would like to make a donation.

Victoria said the couple had ‘built their house to what they wanted’ but ‘now they've got to start again’.

"The only thing they managed to save was their dining room furniture and pictures,” she said. “Everything else is gone.

"The scaffolding is up so the roof is all exposed and the weather has been getting wetter and wetter.”

The fire service confirmed the road, which was closed while the incident was ongoing, reopened on Saturday afternoon.

Crews subsequently visited properties in the local area ‘to offer fire safety advice’ and ‘answer any questions that residents had’.

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