Just after midnight, on Friday, 18 August 2017, emergency services were called to a fiercely burning house just across the road from Langley Fire Station.
The seat
of the fire was in the ground floor front room (north-east
corner of the house). The blaze was so intensely hot that searing flames quickly
spread-up and enveloped the bedroom above.
The two chimneys large corner house, with a very large rear garden, 5 Blandford Road South, was – according to Land Registry title BK301860 – purchased in 1992 by the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham who transferred the ownership to Look Ahead Housing Association Limited of 189 Old Brompton Road, London SW5 0AN.
Companies House records show Look Ahead Housing Association Limited has never existed.
The fire's heat was so incredibly hot it melted and distorted the ground floor room's aluminium window frame.
The fire cracked and broken the upstairs bedroom window in multiple places.
The fire also melted and deformed the plastic drainpipe and the plastic gutting fixed to the roof.
South Central Ambulance Service, covering Hampshire and Thames Valley (Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Milton Keynes) stated:-
We were called at 00:48 on 18 August to reports of a house
fire.
We had an ambulance officer on scene assessing one patient.
Following assessment at the scene the patient did not require hospital
treatment.
Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service stated:-
At 12.33am on Friday, 18 August, Thames Valley Fire Control
Service received reports of a fire at a house in Blandford Road, Slough.
Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service crews from Slough,
Maidenhead, Windsor and Langley Fire Stations were sent to the scene.
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus extinguished the fire
using two hose reels were on scene for about two hours.
A Thames Valley Police spokeswoman said:
We were called at 00.47am on 18 August to a fire at a property
on Blandford Road South, Langley. Fire service were also in attendance.
The fire is currently being treated as arson and enquiries are
ongoing to investigate the circumstances. There have been no arrests.
If anyone witnessed the fire or any suspicious behaviour in the
area, please call Thames Valley Police on 101 quoting reference 43170245228.
Local people already thought the blaze was arson and suggested an
accelerant
, such as petrol, was used to rapidly spread the blazing inferno
to kill the occupants.
Arsonists could be changed with attempted murder and, if convicted, imprisoned for many years.
Look Ahead is not registered with Companies House but with the Bank of England's Financial Conduct Authority.
Currently called Look Ahead Care and Support Limited, but it is not a conventional Limited Company.
Based in extremely expensive premises at Kings Building, 16 Smith Square, London SW1P 3HQ, where space costs an astronomical £75.30 per square foot (GBP 810.52 per m2) per year. (Source HMC, Monday 24 July 2017)
Look Ahead's web site states
We’re specialists in delivering mental health, learning
disabilities, homelessness and young people services.
The Slough Times is troubled by the appearance of horizontal bars on bedroom windows and on landing windows.
Despite the fire cracking and breaking the windows, the horizontal bars appear undamaged.
The Slough Times has asked Look Ahead for an explanation.
