A MUM-OF-TWO has been charged with arson after being accused of setting fire to her family home.
Ana Rego, 43, who lives in Rosemary Avenue, Braintree, was arrested and remanded in custody at the weekend after flames tore through the home she shared with her husband and two children.
More than 20 firefighters attended the scene on Saturday evening, where they battled the flames for two-and-a-half hours, and tried to prevent the fire spreading into the home next door.
Ché Thompson and his friend Leroy Moran, 15, arrived at the house before the emergency services after seeing smoke from the nearby Meadowside skate bowl and helped rescue Mrs Rego from her garden.
The 16-year-old of Broad Street, Bocking, said: "We were at the skate park and saw the smoke, and this is Braintree – everyone knows everyone – and we realised it was my friend's house."
While people gathered around the house as the flames increased, Ché and Leroy were told that their friend's mum – Mrs Rego – could be heard in the garden.
Seeing that no-one else was trying to help, they went to neighbours' houses and asked if they could get over the fence. "I jumped over the fence to see if she was all right, and I said, if we can get you this wheelie bin we can get you out," said Ché.
"So I helped to lift her up but she fell off. I was really worried for her safety."
While Ché tried to encourage Mrs Rego out of her smoke-filled garden, Leroy and a neighbour, Phil Oddy, tore down the neighbouring fence to get Mrs Rego out.
Mr Oddy's wife, Stacey, 31, said: "Me and my husband had just got back from the shops and we saw the smoke. The porchway was on fire and the van was very close to it and we were worried about the van blowing up, so I ran and evacuated the next door neighbours and Phil was helping the boys pull down the fence.
"While I was proud of him, he's a 35-year-old man, but the boys were brilliant. Phil said they were really, really brave."
Ché said: "The main reason I did it was because if it were my mum I would have wanted someone to do the same. It made me pretty angry that people were just stood around. I would definitely do it again."
Station officer Derek Leathlean, of Braintree fire station, was one of the first officers to arrive at the scene.
"Because the property was 100 per cent alight, we had two firefighters initially wearing breathing apparatus but they didn't enter the building," he said.
"It was pretty quickly established that all occupants were out of the houses."
Mrs Rego's husband and her two children were out when the fire tore through the house.
Mrs Rego appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Monday charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life.
She has been remanded in custody to appear at Chelmsford Crown Court on November 5.
