An allotment holder has expressed heartbreak after all her hard work into her allotment has ‘gone up in smoke’ after a fire at St Ann’s allotments.
Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue attended a large allotment fire on Ransom Road, Mapperley Park, Nottingham, just before 1pm today, March 18. They tackled the blaze at Hungerhill Gardens which is one of the sites that form the St Ann's allotments.
Gisella Soearasua has been an allotment holder for around six years. She has put all her ‘time and energy’ into her allotment and sadly it has been affected by the fire.
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The St Ann’s resident said: “You would not believe the damage. Apart from the damage of the little building itself, part of it is attached to a greenhouse. Fortunately we didn’t lose all of the green house, just some of it has been damaged.
“But we have lost all the tools, I had bought a jigsaw and are all gone. Everything is all gone. And personal items all went up in smoke. It’s heartbreaking you cannot imagine the effect this has on your well-being everyday. Everyday there is something with these allotments.”
The allotment site was first established in the 1830s, as well as the Hungerhill Gardens, it is also made of Stonepit Coppice and Gorsey Close. The site has around 670 allotment gardens.
Gisella continued: “I got a phone call from the allotment tenants saying there is a fire at the allotment, because we’ve got all these things going on we were all going 'where is it?'
“I ran to the allotment, I came up and the firemen were there. I am asking ‘which allotment is it? Where is it? Can you tell me where?’
“You know the damage of fire, what can I say? You can't describe it, it’s indescribable. And somebody is going to say it’s just an allotment but it’s more than an allotment. It’s all that time and energy that I have given up everyday.
“The whole building is gutted, all the stuff is all gone."
Mapperley resident Walter Kirby is another allotment holder. Mr Kirby said: “I just saw the smoke. There are people going backwards and forwards to the allotment so I don’t know how serious it is - I will find out when I’m going out. I just saw the smoke and I heard it crackling. That was it. “
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