Family who died in e-bike fire got trapped upstairs

Three people who died in a fire linked to an e-bike were trapped upstairs, an inquest has heard.

Gemma Germeney and children Lilly, eight, and Oliver, four, all lost their lives after the fire on Sackville Close in Cambridge in June 2023. The children's father Scott Peden survived.

An inquest at Huntingdon Coroner's Court heard 999 calls stated they "could hear explosions and people screaming".

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said at the time the most probable cause of the fire was an e-bike that was charging.

Station commander Steve Fleming told the inquest that when fire crews arrived at about 00:15 on 30 June the two-floor maisonette was "well alight with one casualty outside suffering burns and broken limbs".

Peden has previously said he jumped out the window and tried to fight the fire, suffering multiple burns and breaking his ankle, while his partner tried to get the children to safety.

He spent about a month in a medically induced coma.

Peden told the inquest on Thursday he had bought a replacement battery after the previous one had been stolen, and had visited a repairman twice for work done.

Giving evidence on Friday, Fleming said that two children were "rescued from the property" while a woman was found deceased.

He said the girl had been found under her parents' bed while the boy was found in the children's room.

Fleming said plastic toys in both bedrooms "had been melted due to the heat".

He told the inquest the e-bike was under the stairs and on charge and because of this the main route to the hallway "would have been compromised from an early stage".

He said the "occupants were trapped on the first floor".

Lilly and Oliver later died in hospital.

The inquest continues.

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