‘Last Christmas still haunts us’, say fire victims

A family that lost “everything” in a house fire a year ago say they will never take a Christmas for granted again.

Chris Pearson, 49, daughter Kaitlin, 24, and her three children have spent most of this year living in a hotel while their house, off Holderness Road in Hull, was being repaired after fire tore through it on 29 November, 2024.

An electrical fault was believed to have caused the blaze, which also destroyed Christmas presents and “two decades worth of memories”.

Mr Pearson said that although the fire still haunted him and his family, they were “looking forward to all the mess, the food and wrapping paper on the floor because nothing can be as messy as last year”.

Mr Pearson said he felt emotional hanging the baubles on his Christmas tree this year, while Kaitlin wrapped presents.

He said: “It was a matter of just starting again. You realise how little you’ve got when you’re moving from one hotel to another and all of your belongings are in two carrier bags.”

Ms Pearson added: “Presents were donated last year, so I felt useless because even though the kids were happy and the younger ones didn’t know, I knew that we never bought them.

“Everything was gone and it just feels nice to actually wrap presents from us this year.”

The pair admit it is still hard to move on from what happened.

Ms Pearson said she felt nervous “all the time” about another fire breaking out.

She said: “I won’t have an extension lead again because that’s what caused it last time, it was traumatising.”

Mr Pearson said he also struggled with similar thoughts. He added: “The anxiety is massive. I’ll be sat on the sofa and I think I can see and smell smoke.”

Most of the smoke damage in the house has been repaired, and Mr Pearson has moved back in, but his daughter and grandchildren are living in temporary accommodation in Hull.

However, they will be spending Christmas Day together and both Mr Pearson and his daughter said they had been trying to make this December as “magical as possible for the kids”.

“We’re all together this year, that’s the main thing. Family is all that matters,” Ms Pearson added.