Wallsend family who survived house fire warn about charging tablets

A Wallsend family who survived a house fire are now warning others to never leave devices on charge.

Elizabeth Doyle-Davies escaped the blaze with her four children when her 13-year-old son Harley woke up to use the toilet, smelt smoke and discovered that his mam’s bed had set alight while she was sleeping in it.

It happened just over a week ago and the family have been told they can’t return to the wreck for around two months.

Firefighters believe it was caused by the charger overheating, after the Amazon Kindle has been left plugged in overnight.

Elizabeth says it has devastated her family, her four-year-old daughter Frankie has had nightmares since and is too scared to return to the scene. She said:

“You watch your life getting chucked into a skip because you can’t get anything back. Yes, we’re insured but insured doesn’t bring back memories, it doesn’t make a four-year-old child go back into her house again after she’s so terrified of going in.

“If Harley hadn’t of woken up to go to the toilet then we wouldn’t have got out because it would have been too much by the time we realised. I’ve never been so frightened in all my life. It was horrible.

“He let out such a scream, opened the door but as soon as he opened the door the air hit and the whole bed went up in flames. If we hadn’t of got out when we did, then we wouldn’t have had an escape route and we’d have been looking at five funerals.”

Graham Smith is a Group Manager within Tyne Wear Fire and Rescue Service. He said:

“It’s not something that we attend on a frequent basis, however that doesn’t detract from the severity and the potential that this incident had to cause injury or indeed a fatality.

“Please do not leave a device on overnight or unattended while it’s charging. Once it’s finished charging please remove the charging unit from the socket and turn it off.”

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