Fatal house fire that tore through family home not deliberate or suspicious
A house fire which left a woman dead is not being treated as suspicious or deliberate, police have said.
The woman, believed to be in her 30s, died following the blaze in Harvest Road, Smethwick, at around 4.30am Saturday. which left every window on the front of the building blackened and charred.
Two other people - understood to be her mother and father - managed to escape before being taken to hospital.
A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: "The fire is not being treated as deliberate or suspicious."
The woman was pulled from the flames by firefighters who found her in a bedroom unconscious. She died shortly afterwards.
West Midlands Fire Service is still investigating the cause of the fire which badly damaged the property.
Floral tributes have since been left outside the property.
Taxi driver Ashmetullah Faizy called 999 just after 4am after returning home from work and noticing flames rising from the semi-detached house.
Nineteen firefighters attended the scene, with four crews arriving from West Bromwich, Smethwick, Oldbury and Woodgate fire stations.
The fire was confirmed out at 6.20am having gutted the house.
Speaking to the Express & Star afterwards, Mr Faizy said he knocked on the door of the burning house along with the next-door neighbour before helping the couple who escaped and giving the man his trousers.
"It was about 4.10am, I just came out of work and I just parked the car and went upstairs," he said.
"As soon as I did that, I see from the window, I notice a light. I quickly came down the stairs, opened the door and saw the fire."
After ringing 999 he went over to the house and helped the man out.
"I was on the phone with 999 and basically the fire started breaking the windows, everything," he continued.
"I knocked the other doors of the neighbour because they have got kids, telling them to get out of the house.
"Basically, everybody was asleep. I was on the phone with the fire people and then they arrived.
"They arrived really quick to be fair, and I rang straight away as soon as I saw some lights in the lounge. Then the fire was getting really bad.
"Everybody was asleep, I was just arriving from work when the fire basically began.
"The daughter was upstairs, I think. I just gave them some chairs, they came here, his wife was sitting here, and the husband has come out.
"I gave him some clothes because he came out without trousers, so I just gave him my trousers. The daughter (was) stuck upstairs. Then the fire people take her out and took her."
