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Over £13k donated after family cottage burns down

Danielle MalgwiSouth East
News imageEva-Amihan Nielsen The image shows a house that has burned down, with holes in the roof and red and white safety tape around it and on the bushes at the front of the house. The sky in the background is grey and bushes can be seen on the left-hand-side.Eva-Amihan Nielsen
Olly Room and his sons arrived at their Nutley home on Friday to find it ablaze

A fundraiser set up to support a family whose East Sussex cottage was destroyed in a fire has raised more than £13,000.

Olly Room and his sons arrived at their Nutley home on Friday to find it ablaze, with 10 fire engines on site.

A GoFundMe page was set up by local resident Eva-Amihan Nielsen to help cover the family's temporary accommodation, veterinary care for two dogs injured in the fire, replacement furniture, clothes, and other essential items.

In an interview with BBC Radio Sussex on Wednesday, Olly spoke about the "beauty of kind people's offers", recalling how a man had helped him pay for his shopping the day after the fire.

"It's just remembering that for every horrid thing you read about in the news, there are a thousand beautiful, kind things that go along with that," he added.

Two of the family's dogs are in critical veterinary care in Crawley after Olly ran into the burning building to rescue and resuscitate them, while two other animals did not survive.

Ms Neilson said: "The fundraising is really just the start of it. It's a rebuild from nothing.

"This has been extremely traumatic for them all and they are deeply distressed about the loss of their animals, and home."

Listen: 'I rushed into the inferno, but couldn't save them'

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