A mum-of-four issues a stark warning after her home was destroyed by a fire that was started by a candle.
Karen Hooper’s home was destroyed after a candle caught fire and ripped through the upstairs of her house while her youngest children were asleep in their rooms.
The 31-year-old from Selly Oak, Birmingham, shares her home with her four children, Miya, 12, Codey, eight, Rorey, two and Honey, one, and had to run up the stairs to get her two youngest kids out of their rooms that were filling with smoke as the fire increased.
Karen says she had put her babies to bed and was chatting on the phone to her friends when she realised that smoke was filling her house.
She added: “My eldest daughter, Miya, noticed the smoke first of all. I was confused about where it could have been coming from because I hadn’t cooked anything. “My daughter then shouted from upstairs that a candle that was sat on a dressing table had been left on and it had caught fire. “I ran upstairs and I realised that my landing was pitch black because of the smoke. “It had spread rapidly through all of the rooms upstairs and I panicked because the babies were asleep in their bedrooms. “I shouted to the kids to get downstairs and wait outside while I got the two youngest. “I burst into my son and daughters rooms and I was immediately hit with heat and smoke. “It was terrifying. I grabbed them both and carried them down the stairs and got outside to where my eldest two kids were and I called 999.”
After the fire service put out the fire and made Karen’s home safe, she was able to go back inside to see the extent of the damage. She says that after she walked back into the house, reality hit about what had happened and she burst out crying.
Karen added: “I was terrified that the kids and I weren’t going to make it out alive. I thought we might die before getting out of the house. “While trying to save the babies I wasn’t really thinking about what I was doing, I was just doing it and acting off of instinct to save my children. “I wasn’t even thinking about the dangers for myself. “My daughter’s room has been completely destroyed. The smoke travelled across the landing and has also ruined the bathroom and my son’s room. Windows in the rooms upstairs were even smashed as a result of the fire. “There is also smoke damaged downstairs as the smoke had travelled. Everything is ruined. “It sounds silly but you never imagine that something like this will happen to you.”
Karen wants to urge other families to be more careful when using items such as candles so that they don’t end up in the same situation as her.
She says that no matter how careful you think you are, it can happen to anyone and that it has taught her lesson to be extra vigilant and the dangers that candles can bring into homes.
Karen said: “When I see the damages from the fire it is just shock horror all over again. It is so traumatising. “But I am just so thankful that we all got out alive, although my eldest son, Codey, had to be taken to hospital as his breathing was affected by the fire.
“He was coughing up black stuff as a result of the smoke that was in his lungs. “We are currently staying in a hotel until the repairs have been made to our home. The whole house still smells of smoke and the upstairs bedrooms can’t be used. “It’s so scary how quickly things can go wrong.”
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