A teenager with a 'heart of gold' has died following a fatal fire that broke out in a North Shields home in the early hours of yesterday morning. The young girl's body was tragically found in the property on Vicarage Street in Tyneside after the blaze began just before 3:30am on Monday.
Officers believe the body belongs to 18-year-old Leah Casson but formal identification is still to take place, the Chronicle Live reports. Three members of the teen's family have been left injured by the devastating incident while two are currently in a critical condition in hospital.
Northumbria Police confirmed yesterday the incident is being treated as a suspected arson attack and detectives have now appealed for any witnesses in the area at the time. A heartbroken family friend has paid tribute to Leah as she launches a fundraiser to help the family through their horrific ordeal.
Kerry Riches from Wallsend has set up a GoFundMe page where she wrote: "As a result of this terrible incident a young talented girl with a heart of gold has lost her life and the other members of the family were hospitalised.
"We need our community to pull together to give Leah the send off she deserves and get the family back into accommodation and help with furnishings, clothing etc."
Emergency services were called out to Vicarage Street just off Waterville Road on January 16 at around 3:28am. At least five fire engines attended the scene alongside police, paramedics and staff from Northern Gas Networks and Northern Powergrid.
Investigations continued at the scene this morning which has been cordoned off while officers carry out door to door enquiries and a white tent remains outside the property. Police have said a number of other residents have been evacuated due to structural safety concerns and have been provided with alternative accommodation in the meantime.
Detective Chief Inspector Louise Jenkins, the Senior Investigating Officer on the case said: “This is an absolutely tragic incident which has resulted in the death of a woman, left three other people seriously injured and a number of neighbours have been affected.
“We are determined to establish exactly what happened in those moments leading up to the fire, and have been working around the clock with the support of our partners from Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, since we first received their call for assistance.
“While enquiries are at an early stage, we are not ruling anything out and are currently treating the incident as suspected arson. We have specialist investigators on the case who will be carrying out detailed forensic enquiries, as well as reviewing CCTV and working with residents to establish if anyone might have seen what happened in the moments prior to the fire.
“We are also asking for anyone else who might have information to come forward and share what they know – any detail, no matter small might be just what we are looking for.”
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service's area manager, Phil Clark, said: “We can confirm that five crews from across Tyne and Wear and our Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP) were on the scene to extinguish this fire in a matter of minutes.
“Our crews will remain in the area in the coming days and we want to thank those firefighters who responded for their professionalism. We would echo the appeal from Northumbria Police for anyone with information about the circumstances around this incident to get in touch.”
Anyone with information about the fire is asked to call Northumbria Police on 101 quoting log NP-20230116-0067. To donate to the fundraising page, go to www.gofundme.com/f/north-shields-family-house-fire.
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