How did some houses survive the Stourbridge fire while neighbours lost everything?
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How did some houses survive the Stourbridge fire while neighbours lost everything?
Image source: EPA/Shutterstock
Image caption: Some homes avoided complete destruction in the fire while others burned to the ground.
By Aida Fofana
West Midlands
Published: 20 August 2026, 06:06 BST
Many who have seen the damage caused by the devastating fire in Stourbridge have shared similar thoughts to Pritpal Boyal, whose relatives’ house burnt down – why did some homes survive unscathed while others were gutted?
"I was just amazed at how my father-in-law’s house was still standing," he said, mystified. "It was like a lottery of whether your house was going to survive or not."
Nineteen homes across five streets in the town were completely destroyed by the fire last week, with eight households left able to view the shells of their former homes.
Aerial images of the aftermath showed some houses looking like they escaped the flames while those not far away from them burnt to the ground.
"It was just a scary sight," said Boyal. "I really feel for the people that have lost their homes."
Dozens of people were evacuated as the fire raged but, of the 96 houses that were evacuated, 85 families were able to return, Dudley Council said. Thirteen households whose homes were damaged by the fire were also able to go back to them.
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Figure caption: Pritpal Boyal said he was stunned his father-in-law’s house still stood.
David Price is one of those whose home escaped the flames in Stourbridge and he is still trying to understand why it was spared.
"When you see the devastation it’s literally skipped [our house]," he said. "There’s still hanging baskets here. I can’t work it out."
The wind appeared to have steered the flames clear of his house, he said, while "the other ones over the road just went up."
"I’m devastated for them," he added. "I think it’s awful. It isn’t something you can just put right, is it?"
Why did one house burn, but not its neighbour?
The stark difference between neighbouring properties can make the destruction difficult to comprehend for many people. But for fire safety expert Dr Tony Fogarty, there are many reasons why one home can be engulfed in flames while another is barely touched.
Wind, intense heat and burning embers can all affect how a fire moves, meaning two neighbouring houses can experience very different conditions.
One of the biggest factors is what lies between a fire and a building, Fogarty explained.
"You might have one property which may have fences, shed, decking, loads of dried vegetation," he told BBC Radio WM’s Trish Adudu.
"The house next door may have patios and may not have any sheds next to the building, and then essentially that forms a firebreak and can initially stop that fire in its tracks as it moves up the garden."
This could explain why the damage can appear so uneven, even between neighbouring properties, Fogarty said.
It can be tempting for many to imagine a wildfire as an unstoppable wall of flames, creeping steadily across an area – but Fogarty, from Redditch, Worcestershire, said fires did not behave like this.
"When fire is burning, it doesn’t move like a solid wall," he said. Think a bit more…
