Mum's chilling warning after little girl's toy causes fire - with 'lucky escape'

31 August 2023 , 12:43

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Mum Danielle was horrified by what happened to the toy (Image: Jam Press)

A mum's worst nightmare almost came true when her daughter's toy nearly set her whole house on fire - and she's issued an urgent warning to other parents after her mortifying ordeal. Mum Danielle shared that she and her family had a "lucky escape" as she was getting her kids ready for their childminder.

Her four-year-old daughter India asked the mum-of-two to get her toy from the living room before they left, but when she turned around, she noticed smoke was coming out of it. She was horrified, and quickly shut the door and called the emergency services who arrived within minutes, and firefighters were initially puzzled as to how the fire had started.

The mum was horrified by the damage and was grateful she was running late (Jam Press)

When Danielle walked back into the living room she noticed the window frame melting and smouldering, and then looked at the floor, noticing her daughter's toy on the floor. Shockingly, the sunlight had been shining on the toy mirror which concentrated the heat onto the window frame – causing the PVC to burn.

Danielle, of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, said: "If I had been out all day who knows what could have happened. It smelt very electrical and the smoke was very hazy, like when you put out a candle. It had burned a black hole into the window frame. That living room gets so much light, it can get really hot. I even have to put blankets on the sofas in the summer because it gets so hot. Thankfully we were running late that day so we hadn't left the house yet, if we had, who knows what we'd have come back to.

"I want to thank the firefighters who were here so quickly and who have been really helpful since the incident. You wouldn't think that a child's toy could put your family at risk. It was a lucky escape for us but someone else may not be so lucky so please be careful."

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Jon Anderson, station manager for Swalwell Community Fire Station, part of Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, said while such fires do not happen often, they can be "devastating". We've had an unusually cold and wet summer so often we don't think about the sun causing fires in this way," he said. "But the mirror will magnify the sun rays and bounce them back into your home, we've seen fire start from bathroom mirrors left on the window sill."

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Danielle Kate Wroe