Dad starts blaze trying to destroy documents

Dad starts blaze trying to destroy documents
12:55pm Monday 8th January 2007
By Christine Sexton »
A dad worried about identity fraud unwittingly set his home on fire as he tried to burn personal documents.
The man, his wife and their two young children fled the home in London Road, Benfleet, after he set fire to documents in a saucepan near a wooden garage attached to the house.
Firefighters were called to the semi-detached house shortly after 9pm on Thursday after the fire spread to the house through a window.
Hadleigh fire station sub officer Alan Hockett said his crews arrived to find the building well ablaze.
Although the family had already got out of the building, their cat was trapped inside and had to be rescued by fire officers, who also managed to prevent the fire spreading to the roof.
Fire investigator Martin Pullen said: "The husband bravely attempted to tackle the fire with a garden hose, but it was too developed.
"He did what the fire service advise - he alerted the family and they got out safely.
"He was destroying old receipts by burning them in a saucepan. He was concerned about fraud and, because they had not got a shredder, they had a habit of burning them."