NO ONE could have survived the fireball which ripped through a Cwmbran house, claiming the lives of three generations of the same family, a firefighter told the triple murder trial yesterday RUTH MANSFIELD reports.

FIREFIGHTERS described how an explosion forced them to abandon fighting an “intense” fire which killed three generations of the same family.

Firefighter Jason Donaldson told Newport Crown Court how he and a colleague were called out of the property after the explosion, which he believed was caused by oxygen cylinders, led to the ceiling starting to collapse above them.

Giving evidence in the trial of Carl Mills, he said he didn’t think anyone could have survived a fire of that intensity which killed Kim Buckley, 46, her daughter Kayleigh Buckley, 17, and her six-month old granddaughter Kimberley.

Mills, 28, of no fixed abode, is standing trial charged with the murder of the three victims, who all died when a fire ripped through their home in Tillsland, Coed Eva, Cwmbran, on September 18, 2012.

Mills denies the charges.

Mr Donaldson described arriving at the fire and seeing a “mass fireball”

at the front of the house with “very intense fire”.

As he and a colleague entered, they kicked the stairs to test them for stability but as they were kicking them, the stairs were just “crumbling”.

He said: “It was very dangerous to get up. It was because of the report that there were people inside that we made the decision to go up.”

He added that if the property had have been empty there was a possibility they wouldn’t have done what they did.

Continuing his evidence, Mr Donaldson said that, on entering, his colleague was trying to extinguish the fire while Mr Donaldson used a thermal imaging camera to help track any people in the building.

He said he searched the bathroom and one of the bedrooms but could not find anyone. He was unable to go all the way into the bedroom as he had no hose and it was therefore unsafe.

But Mr Donaldson said there was then an explosion “of some sort”

which he believed to be from oxygen cylinders. Oxygen cylinders were in the home for baby Kimberley who had only been brought home from hospital the day before.

Mr Donaldson said following the explosion, the ceiling started to collapse and he described seeing a “massive fire” above them and debris falling on top of them.

He said he then heard the evacuation whistle from outside and they were called from the property.

Prosecuting barrister Gregory Bull QC asked him: “Could anyone have survived a fire of that intensity?”

Mr Donaldson replied: “I don’t think so.”

Mr Donaldson also told the court that when he arrived at the fire and was getting the hose ready, he became aware of a man behind him walking up the path. He said the man didn’t appear to be concerned and told him there were three dogs in the property.

Mr Donaldson said he then asked the man whether there was anybody in the house to which the man replied that it was his girlfriend’s house.

When Mr Donaldson repeated the question, he said the man told him there were two adults and a baby in there.

Mr Donaldson said he appeared “very calm” and that it was “totally out of the ordinary”. He added that the man was showing no signs of emotion.

When Mr Donaldson asked him where in the property the people were, he said he just pointed “vaguely” at the upstairs of the house.

Mr Donaldson then told him to go to the crew manager.

The following day when Mr Donaldson saw a picture of Mills in the SouthWales Argus, he recognised him as the man he had spoken to.

Crew manager Darren Austin described talking to the man who Mr Donaldson later identified as Mills and said that he had told him the house was his property and that his baby, girlfriend and girlfriend’s mum were in there.

Mr Austin described him as calm and said he did not seem flustered.

When asked if the man had shown any sign of emotion, he replied: “No.”

Simon Bevan, who was crew manager at the time of the incident, described the fire as “ferocious” and said it had taken a “chimney effect” with the fire going straight up the stairs.

He described needing to withdraw the crews from the property for their safety and said that with the intensity of the fire, the likelihood of lives being saved from the minute the fire service turned up was “doubtful”.

When asked if he thought anyone could have survived the fire from what he saw of the intensity of it, he replied: “Honestly, no.”

Proceeding.

Accused's speech was slurred - policeman

THE policeman who arrested Mills at the scene of the fire told the court how the defendant had told him his girlfriend and child were in the house before then saying they were actually in another house.

Police Constable Daniel Wise told the jury he had found Mills in the back garden of the home at the time of the fire.

He said Mills was shouting for his girlfriend and child and said he thought they were in the house.

After PC Wise had informed a fire officer, he said he then returned to Mills to ask him if he knew where in the house they would be.

Mills then told him that he thought they weren’t in that house but in another house and pointed to a row of houses behind the Buckley home.

PC Wise said he thought Mills was drunk as his speech was slurred and his behaviour was odd. He said he then handcuffed him and saw his hands appeared “blackened”.

He said after arresting him on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life, Mills asked: “What have I done?

Mills was put in a police car, but had to be moved to a police van after punching and kicking the windows.