Fire destroys young runner’s honours

Press, 12 September 1986, Page 9

Fire destroys young runner’s honours

A keen young runner’s trophies were destroyed in a fire that burned for several minutes in this St Albans house yesterday before his mother, who was gardening in the backyard, noticed it. Mrs Gladys Pierson said she had been gardening when she happened to glance up at a bedroom window of the two-storey wooden house, at 20 Derby Street.

Her eldest son, Jason, aged 17, a keen runner, lost all his trophies, certificates, running shoes, and all his clothes. The fire had started in his room, she said. The fire started just after 1.45 p.in. It gutted a bedroom, and several other rooms were damaged by smoke. Two fire engines at-

tended the blaze which was not being treated as suspicious, said the station officer in the fire-safety department, Mr Kevin Trerise. Mrs Pierson said “I saw smoke coming from the room and as I came down the drive to the front of the house, three of my neighbours, who had already phoned the fire department, were coming towards me.” “Even the dog hadn’t noticed the fire.” Mrs Pierson said she did not bother trying to get into the house because there was so much smoke. She did not know then where the fire had started.

Jason Pierson had kept many of his certificates since he was eight. She hoped copies of

some of the certificates could be made by the Anglican Harrier Club, of which her son was a member. Jason Pierson said his girlfriend’s photograph had also been burned in the fire, but that he was sure he could get another.

Smoke had damaged most of the family’s clothes.

The house was insured, Mrs Pierson said.

After spending all afternoon talking to the fire-safety officer and insurance assessors, Mrs Pierson said she was looking forward to seeing her husband, who did not know about the fire. Mr Pierson, who is self-employed, had been out all day and had not been able to be reached.