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Zoya Sheikh, 25, and her family escaped with their lives but lost their uninsured Wembley home of 17 years after a fire believed to have been caused by a rogue firework on Diwali night, 1 November 2026. Daily Dazzling Dawn understands the family had no home insurance, leaving them to rebuild from nothing after around 40 firefighters and six fire engines tackled the blaze. No fatalities were reported. The London Fire Brigade says the cause remains under investigation and no official finding has been made. The family believes a firework landed on the roof, but Zoya has stressed that nothing has been confirmed.
Zoya, who works in admin support, was at home with her parents and siblings on the evening of 1 November. The household had been marking Diwali, with fireworks audible across the neighbourhood. She was helping her brother with his car at the front of the house when a neighbour shouted that there was a fire. Until that moment, the family had no idea what was happening. “We had no idea up to that point,” Zoya told journalists. “My brother smelled something but we didn’t think much of it because it’s Diwali and there were a lot of fireworks going off that night. We didn’t hear anything hitting the house because the fireworks are quite loud where we live.”
Then came the warning that changed everything. “Someone shouted ‘there’s a fire’. They had seen orange flames,” she said. “We had five seconds to go and grab my family, then it just continued to burn. I saw the roof explode, I was quite scared. Thank God I got to my family and we were all out of the house.” Daily Dazzling Dawn learned that the family had seconds to act. There was no time to gather possessions, documents or keepsakes. The fire spread through the property and the roof exploded, leaving the family watching from outside as their home was destroyed. Zoya believes they would have died if they had not escaped in time.
For Zoya, the loss is deeply personal. The house was the backdrop to her childhood and to her siblings’ upbringing. “Everything we had has been demolished,” she said. “It was horrible — we built our lives there, we’ve all been there since we were kids — all our memories are in there.” Images of the aftermath show the outside of the house blackened, top-floor windows blown out and fencing cordoning off the ruined property. The family had lived there for 17 years. Zoya said the experience was “something that none of us expected”. She described seeing the roof explode as “quite scary” but focused on getting her family out. Her priority was her parents and siblings, and she says she is grateful they all survived.
The family’s insurance position sharpens the hardship. Daily Dazzling Dawn understands there was no home insurance in place. That means the Sheikh family must rely on fundraising and community support to cover the extensive damage, rather than an insurance claim. A GoFundMe page titled “Our house got burnt down” has been launched to help them rebuild. Zoya said the family has been overwhelmed by the support they have received so far. The Wembley community has rallied around them, a small glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak situation. Without insurance, the family faces a long and uncertain road to recovery.
The London Fire Brigade attended with around 40 firefighters and six fire engines. The cause remains under investigation. Zoya has stressed that while the family suspects a firework, other causes cannot be ruled out. “We don’t know officially if it was a firework, nothing has been confirmed,” she said. “It could be a short circuit, it could be a firework — nothing has been assessed yet.” As the investigation continues, the Sheikh family is left to pick up the pieces. Their story is a reminder of how quickly a celebration can turn to tragedy, and how central insurance and community support become when a family loses the roof over its head. Donations to the family’s fundraising page are being sought.
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