The Malaga town rallying to help family who lost 'everything' in house fire

Residents and community associations have rallied to help a young family who have lost "everything" in a fire at their house in Periana in the east of Malaga province, which started in the early hours of Saturday 12 July.

The family has been staying in a house belonging to a neighbour, who has given it to them free of charge until their own house is ready to move back into. "The neighbours are helping us a lot, everyone is calling us, offering us clothes, toys for the children, food, money... whatever is needed," Sara Lozano, one of the victims, said.

Periana town hall has also offered to help the family, with the publication of a message on their social networks, which includes their bank account number and mobile phones for donations. "We are very grateful, the whole town has turned out to help. We will never be able to stop thanking them," Lozano added.

The volunteer-run Alcaucín Community Association (ACA) shop has donated 1,000 euros following the Perania town hall appeal and the association has told the family that they can "come to the shop and take, free of charge, anything that can help them, clothes or household things".

Early on Saturday 12 July on Calle Circo in Periana Sara, 26, and her husband Victoriano Núñez, 37, were sleeping peacefully in their home with their two young children, Isabel (four) and Victoriano (three) in another bedroom.

The couple were woken up by loud banging and shouting coming from outside. "I looked out and saw several neighbours banging on the door, telling us to get out, that there was a fire in the living room, that the house was on fire", Sara, who was born in Alhaurín el Grande, but lives in Periana, where her partner is from, told SUR on Monday.

"We had only been living in that house for eight months, since last December. It all started with an electrical switchboard, which caught fire. We lost everything, what was on the ground floor, in the living room and the living room, clothes, toys, our family souvenirs, and even money we had from our work over the last few days," explained Lozano.

The couple quickly grabbed the two children and ran out of the building through the garage area, without being injured or affected by smoke inhalation. "The neighbours were the ones who put it out, they took buckets of water, sand, hoses, fire extinguishers, there was one who climbed up the façade to close the doors so that the fire would not go upstairs," he explained.

Sara runs a beauty salon in Vélez-Málaga and Lorenzo works as a gardener and maintenance worker. "Luckily, we both have jobs and we are fine and the most important thing is that nothing bad happened to us or the children," Lozano said. The family is also waiting for the insurance company to assess the damage.

Regarding the closure of Periana fire station, Sara said that she was "so nervous and anxious that I don't know if it took 45 minutes or more than an hour as some neighbours say".

Lorenzo added, "What is true is that the fire station has been closed for a year. If it had been open they would have taken just four minutes to reach our house and now we would not be like this, as the crews had to come from Vélez-Málaga."