Lowestoft dad Artur Rzeszutek helps neighbours to safety after fire at St Peters Court flat block

A Lowestoft father who ran back into a burning block of flats to help his neighbours to safety has spoken of his relief that no one was injured in the night time blaze.

Artur Rzeszutek, 26, was woken up at around 10pm yesterday after his daughter heard someone banging on the door of their 11th floor flat in the town's St Peters Court.

"I got dressed and I just heard someone saying we needed to run downstairs," said Artur who, at the time, did not know that the fire had started in a storage shed and was confined to the bottom floor.

"I took my children, my girlfriend and my old neighbours downstairs as the old neighbours couldn't walk fast at all.

"As soon as we took them down from the 11th floor, I went back up with my next door neighbour and helped a mother carry her toddler and stroller all the way down the stairs."

He added that, although the fire did not spread to the higher floors, smoke had started to rise in the communal landing areas of the building.

"On the stairs there was so much smoke and it was so hard to see or breathe," he said.

"Getting down was not easy and at the time we all thought half of the building was on fire as we could not see much.

"But only alarms on the bottom floor had gone off so I wanted to make sure no one was still asleep inside."

Artur helped three families to safety and knocked on as many doors as he could before seven fire crews, from Lowestoft, Beccles, Wrentham and Norfolk, arrived and told him to remain outside while they battled the blaze.

He then joined his girfriend Ludmila, their two children, aged 10 and 11, and around 100 others who were forced to stand in the cold for more than four hours.

"They closed the building off and told people to wait until further notice," said Artur, who had been forced to leave all his belongings, as well as the family's two pet guinea pigs, behind.

"A lot of people standing outside had only pyjamas or not many clothes on and I'm sure they must all have been very cold in this windy weather.

"My kids were in pyjamas and they were so cold. All I could do was give them my clothes to wear.

"My girlfriend also gave her winter bathrobe to our elderly neighbour as she was very cold and didn't look well."

Artur, who as a child watched a nearby farmhouse be engulfed by flames, said he was 'very thankful' that the incident could have been much worse.

"I've experienced fire before when it burned the whole building so I knew what could happen if the flames got worse," he said.

"I am mainly just worried for the children as I know experiences like these can scar them for life. They were so scared."

A 24-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of arson following the blaze and has been taken to Great Yarmouth Investigation Centre for questioning.

A spokesman from Suffolk Fire and Rescue said all people in the building had been accounted for and that the fire was extinguished by 1.05am.

In response to the fire alarms on higher floors not going off, a spokesman from East Suffolk Council, which owns the building, said: “The fire at St Peters Court was contained and limited to the ground floor storage area, with some minor smoke damage to, at most, two further units. The established approach, agreed with Suffolk Fire & Rescue, is that alarms will only be sounded to alert residents in the immediate vicinity of the fire and this system worked correctly.

“Given the fire was on the ground floor, alarms will not be sounded on higher floors where there are no likely impacts, and tenants are advised to remain in their flats unless they see or smell fire, or are asked to leave by the fire service.

“In such a situation the concern would be that tenants on higher floors would head towards the danger and impede the fire service as they enter the building to extinguish the fire and check for any further spread.

“Safety is our primary focus and St Peters Court has benefited from extensive fire safety improvements in the last 18 months including upgrades to the alarm system, the installation of a full-building sprinkler system, new one-hour fire doors for each flat as well as comprehensive assessments of each flat's integrity.

“We will conduct a review, however all our systems were checked following the incident and found to be in full working order. Meanwhile, council staff remained on site all night to offer reassurance.

“We would like to thank residents for their co-operation and also extend our gratitude to Suffolk Fire & Rescue who dealt quickly and efficiently with this incident."

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