Reading house fire: What we know so far about fatal blaze on Erleigh Road

A blaze which swept through a four-storey home in Reading and claimed the life of a respected grandmother and injured five others is being investigated by police.

The fire, where members of a family of ten were sleeping, began in the early hours of Wednesday morning (5 April).

A mother of several children is also believed to be critically ill in hospital as a result of the blaze.

At least ten fire appliances were sent to Erleigh Road, along with Police and Ambulance crews.

People living nearby described the fatal blaze as “shocking" and “completely unexpected," adding that the elderly woman who died had been seen going about her day normally yesterday.

Superintendent Steve Raffield, the Local Policing Area Commander for Reading, said: “Tragically, as a result of this fire, a woman has died of her injuries.

“Five other people, two adults and three children, have been injured and are being treated in hospital, and three are currently in a critical condition.

“The fire was extinguished by Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service and no adjoining properties were affected.

“There does not appear to be any suspicious circumstances to this fire, although we are conducting an investigation alongside Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service on behalf of the Berkshire Coroner. Our officers will remain at the scene for some time to come.

“This incident is an absolute tragedy, and first and foremost, our thoughts are with the family and friends of the person who has died.

“They are being offered support by officers at this extremely difficult time.”

South Central Ambulance Service said it deployed eight ambulances, a hazard area response team and the air ambulance.

Shary Gulfraz, who owns the Punjab Foods shop opposite the stricken house said: “The whole four storeys is lived in by one family. There’s quite a lot of them - the mum who is around 60 to 70 years old and then she has three boys and one daughter and the daughter has some young children too.

“The dad is called Khalid and he’s a mechanic and really well known in the area.

“My dad has owned our shop since 1999, so we’ve been neighbours with all of them all our lives. This tragedy is totally unexpected.

“The woman who died - I don’t know her name because I just call her Aunty - came into the shop just yesterday to buy food and the little children were running around everywhere.

“They’re a very normal, tight-knit family. This is a student area now so they are one of the only families on the road. Before the students came here it was a very tight Asian community.”

Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, went to the house with her two young children to lay bunches of flowers in memory of the woman who died.

She said: “I’m deeply saddened and completely shaken. They had lived in that house their entire lives, there are four generations in that house.

“I don’t know if they all still lived there but they were caring for their elderly dad.

“The grandmother was a very valuable member of the community, she taught a whole generation how to read Arabic and helped them to learn the Karan. She was a very, very loving woman and I have fond memories.

“A lot of people, including myself and all my siblings, went to the house to be taught by her. She was very religious. In Islam we believe that if you die in a fire during Ramadan you are considered a Martyr.

“I just cannot believe what’s happened. I saw her yesterday, a lot of people have said they also saw her yesterday. She was just a normal local person.

“We had to lay flowers because there’s just nothing else we can do.”

A Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue spokesperson said: "Very sadly, following a fire at a residential property in Erleigh Road, Reading, this morning, a female has died of her injuries.

"We responded, alongside Thames Valley Police and South Central Ambulance Service to reports of a large house fire at just after 1.30am this morning.

"The fire has now been extinguished, but tragically, one person, a woman aged in her sixties, has died in the fire and five others have been injured."