A man in his 70s has died after two “significant” house fires happened at the same time on neighbouring roads.
Officers were called to the fires at properties on Lunt Place and Marbury Drive in Bilston, near Wolverhampton, soon after 2am on Saturday, West Midlands Police said.
At the house on Marbury Drive, the man was found dead.
The police said that four other people were taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
The police and the West Midlands Fire Service are working together to figure out what happened.
There were “two significant house fires in Bilston,” the fire service said, in the early hours of Saturday.
It said, “We were first told about a fire at a home in Lunt Place at 2:19 a.m.” Quickly, crews from nearby stations reacted; the first fire truck got there three minutes after being called out.
There was fire damage to about a third of the ground floor of the two-story, semi-detached house. The whole land was filled with smoke. Hose reels and jets were used by firefighters wearing breathing gear to put out the fire.
“Three people were taken from the first floor to safety.” A fourth one was found outside. All of them were taken to the hospital after being treated by rescuers at the scene. It doesn’t look like their injuries will kill them.
“At 2:30 a.m., we were called to Marbury Drive, which is close by, for a second house fire.” This was about a two-story detached house that caught on fire and damaged almost the whole land.
“Our crews had to work hard in tough conditions to keep the fire under control and put it out.” A guy who was thought to be in his 70s died at the scene of the accident.
There will still be cordons around the area.
If you were nearby when the fire broke out, call 101 or use Live Chat to talk to the cops and give them log 379 from May 10.