A brave mum has told how her community saved her family after their house exploded with them inside.
Jessica Williams, then 31, had just got home with her sons Reuben, five, and Elliot, two, when the property blew up in a freak gas explosion, leaving nothing but rubble.
The blast shook the terrace street in the village of Seven Sisters in Wales, damaging two neighbouring properties and leading to the evacuation of 14 others.
Residents described is as "something out of a film" with flames billowing out from the house and fires everywhere, water bursting from the pipes, and screams coming from inside.
Jess and her boys miraculously survived despite being buried inside under tonnes of debris and surrounded by patches of fire, reports Wales Online.
Neighbour Jeff Davies, 52, helped pull Jess out of the property immediately after the explosion and helped clear away the debris.
He recalled hearing her screams and clearing the rubble around her to ensure nothing else would fall before the mum was freed from underneath the family's American-style fridge.
The property developer was honoured a bravery award from South Wales Police along with fellow locals Cameron Nation, Leighton Williams, Stephen Lewis and Kevin O’Sullivan for their efforts.
Almost two years later, after coming out of an induced coma, Jess has opened up about the terrifying ordeal and how the mining village pulled together to help save her family.
More than £25,000 was donated to rebuild the damaged properties thanks to a facebook group of more than 500 community members.
Jess said she is "blown away" by their kindness with neighbours rallying together to help rebuild their home for free or reduced rates.
"They're rebuilding our lives, not just our homes," the teaching assistant said.
"One thing I have learned from the day is when the chips are down and in events as serious as this that the community spirit still stands even though we don’t see it on a daily basis."
The project is now well underway, with work to clear the site and assess the damage starting just a month after the explosion.
Dozens of builders and tradesmen came forward offering to help with the rebuild, named locally as the 'Church Road Rebuild by Kindness' project.
Huw Davis, from Ian Davis plant, has been involved since the beginning and spent more than a week trawling through the debris in a bid to recover some of the family's belongings.
He said: "I went up to go and take the house down but all their sentimentals were still in there. Everything we came across we recovered."
"I picked it all out with a machine as we couldn’t go in there because it was dangerous. I had the grabber on the machine and we went through the house brick by brick."
Jess's father visited the site every day to look through what had been salvaged including clothes, photos and the family's goldfish which incredibly survived the blast.
The rebuild team, including Huw, also worked on the footings and the concrete floor slabs of the redevelopment.
"It’s in our valley, isn’t it. It’s a hell of a good feeling to be involved in something like this," he added.
"When people are struggling and to see everyone pulling together, it's nice."
Jess and her family are still living in a house one mile away from their home and decided to give priority to their neighbours' homes before their own.
This, along with lockdown delays, means the timber frame is only now starting to be built and the family are finally able to revisit the site.
"When I used to go past, there would be a gap... but now there is a structure there it’s like ‘oh it’s happening now’," she said.
Although the majority of the work is being done free of charge from the fundraising pot, Jess and her family acknowledge this will only go so far and decided to pay for the timber frame themselves.
The outside of the property has to remain the same as it was structurally but the family have asked for some alterations to the interior to make moving back in feel easier.
"I have asked for a few changes like having doors in different places and things like that," Jess said.
"Because the accident happened in the kitchen, I need a different kind of layout mentally for me.
"I don’t want to walk in and have visions of exactly how it was. I am hoping I will be able to live there a bit easier after that."
She added: "We’ve been trying to talk to the boys about how they want their bedrooms and things so I am trying to make it a positive for them and they feel okay moving back there."
South Wales Police concluded that the explosion was most likely caused by a "combination of ageing LPG gas and environmental conditions".
Jess suffered serious burns to 70 per cent of her body was treated for a punctured lung, several broken ribs and kidney failure meaning that she had to learn how to walk and talk again.
She also had a Tracheostomy, a procedure that creates an opening in the throat to allow air to enter a person's lungs, which left her unable to speak, swallow or eat.
Her children, now aged seven and three, also suffered serious burns and will need regular operations until they reach adulthood.
"They’re doing amazing. I think children are so resilient. If you didn’t see their burns you wouldn't know anything had happened to them," Jess said.
"Reuben talks about it because he obviously remembers it. There's been quite a few points over the last two years that he's brought it up.
"Elliot hasn’t. He would tell people that he had his burns from falling over in the park."
While their physical and mental health needs can seem "never-ending", they have been spurred on by the help and support of their community which she said has "wrapped itself around them."
She added: "When I came home from the hospital... I don’t think I realised just how much support there was and has been.
"I just haven’t got the words, it’s incredible the amount people have helped. We are just so grateful."
