A Durham mum has been left speechless by the generosity of neighbours after a fire destroyed her home and claimed the life of her beloved dog.
On Sunday, Caitlin Brook was enjoying a day out with her daughters, Sklya, four, and Cara, one, when she received a panicked call from a friend. She told the mum-of-two that her home, in Catchgate, County Durham, was on fire, with a large team of firefighters attempting to bring the flames under control.
At first, Caitlin couldn't believe what she was hearing. But it soon became clear that her family home of three years had indeed been caught up in a devastating blaze.
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The 24-year-old said: "The first thing I thought was that it was like some kind of joke or something - it wasn't real. Then we just chucked the food we were eating and started driving down to the house, it was about 20 minutes away but it felt like it took an hour to get there.
"All I could think was that our dog was inside. When we got to the top of the street I saw the amount of firefighters there were around the house, I started running down, all I was bothered about was the dog.
"I'm just running down trying to get there, there's people trying to stop us, saying 'you don't want to see this', I'm saying 'I do, it's my home, I want to see'.
"The firefighters spoke to me, they were trying to ask my name and my date of birth and I couldn't even tell them, my mind had just gone blank. What got me the most was not knowing what had happened to the dog."
Firefighters were eventually able to bring out the body of the family's beloved two-and-a-half-year-old Staffie, Lola. It appeared the pup had been in her crate, which was not locked, when the fire broke out, and they told Caitlin she had most likely been knocked out by fumes before the flames reached her.
"She could have got out, but she literally died sleeping, she wouldn't have known anything had happened," Caitlin said.
"It was heartbreaking for my little girl, I remember when we saw the fire trucks she was saying 'please make sure my Lola's ok'. My mum and cousin came to pick her up and then when we finally left we had to sit down with her and explain that the house was gone and that Lola was gone, and when we said that her face just stopped, she took it in and then burst into tears, asking us to get her Lola back."
The fire left the family home completely gutted and Caitlin, now staying with friends in Sunniside, Gateshead, has 'literally lost everything'. But she's been overwhelmed by the support of locals who've come forward with gifts of clothes, toys, cash and other essentials to help get her and her girls back on her feet.
She said: "I came back later that night because they wanted to board the house up and I was looking inside and I saw that just everything was gone. There wasn't even a sock I could pick up off the floor to save.
"It's everything, right down to the Christmas decorations that were in the loft. I had things from when my kids were born, blankets from the hospital, a balloon from their first birthdays, there were absolutely loads of memories and everything is gone.
"Then you think of passports, driving licence, every single bit of ID, I've got nothing to say who I am anymore. When I think about what it will take to replace it all, I haven't even been able to make a list yet.
"When something like this happens you've lost literally everything except what's on your back, you're left with one pair of shoes, one pair of socks, one top.
"The amount of people who have been getting in touch offering help has been amazing. There are people coming by my friends' house to drop off stuff, people coming with money or gift vouchers for things for the kids. Yesterday I went back to the street for the first time, which was quite hard, but the neighbours were coming over and being so lovely.
"I don't have words for all the support. It's mad how many people have come together, everybody is struggling at the moment but they still want to help.
"How can you type the word 'thank you' and that be enough? I feel like I want to do something for them. I just want to thank everyone who has helped, I don't like asking for help but everyone has been amazing."
Friends are raising money to help the family replace their lost possessions at https://www.gofundme.com/f/sg7y4-house-fire
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