Wedding couple’s blaze heartbreak

10:01pm Friday 28th March 2008

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A COUPLE who lost their wedding outfits in a blaze have vowed not to let the fire stop them getting married in August.

The fire at Amanda Capstick and fiancee Mark Mcquillan's four bedroomed house in Townfield Avenue, Burnley, destroyed all their belongings.

Mark, 38, said the couple planned to marry on August 8 in Cliviger despite the £200,000 house being destroyed along with their outfits, the bridesmaid dresses, stationery and other wedding items.

Loss assessors are looking at the house, which has been gutted, and will cost up to £300,000 to repair, and repairs will take six months, added the father of two.

Two pumps battled the blaze, which is believed to have been started by an electrical fault, at 4.30am on Thursday.

The fire had engulfed the whole house by the time Mark arrived at 6.30am.

The couple, who have a 10 month-old-son called Rudi together, were staying at Mark's parents house when the fire started.

The engineer, who works at ELE Advanced Technology, in Colne, said: "When I was driving up through Worsthorne I saw the flames and realised how big the fire was.

"I was devastated.

"We have nothing left and have lost everything "I just keep thinking what might have happened if we had been in there - someone was looking out for us.

"We will not let the fire stop us getting married as planned. If we can survive this, we can survive anything."

Fire ravaged the downstairs of the property and smoke destroyed the upstairs, which included an extension being built onto the garage.

The extension was being built to accommodate Mark's daughter Holly, five, from a previous relationship.

The couple, who live with Amanda's two sons from a previous marriage, Eli, nine, and Jonah, 12, will be staying with Mark's parents for a few weeks before moving into rented accommodation.

Amanda, a teaching assistant at a primary school in Barrowford, said she would start looking into replacing the destroyed wedding items.

Amanda, who had her 35th birthday the day after the fire, said: "I am taking each day as it comes.

"It's the pictures I am devastated about, there is no way they can be replaced."