'I left a plug on in my kitchen, then my house went up in flames and it killed my cat'
A man was left devastated after a simple error saw his house go up in flames, with the fire killing his beloved cat. It was an ordinary day for Said Boumara when he left for work from his home in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
He was then shocked to receive a call from a panicked neighbour, telling him his property was on fire. Said immediately rushed back to his house to find firefighters from Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) tackling the blaze. His main fear was for his three cats who were inside the burning building. They were found and given pet oxygen before being passed onto the vets, where two made a full recovery but one sadly died.
Pictures now show the shocking damage inside Said's kitchen, with the fire started by a faulty hot water dispenser which he had left plugged in.
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“I couldn’t believe it was my house because I’d just left. I was in denial that it was happening until I saw the crews trying to put it out," Said explained. “I just wanted my cats found and the crews were talking to me the whole time and telling me what they were doing, reassuring me. I didn’t realise they had oxygen for pets, and I am so grateful to the firefighters, and the vets, for doing what they could to save them.”
It is believed the fire was accidental and started by a faulty hot water dispenser that was plugged in on the kitchen counter. The flames were so hot that the fire alarms had completely melted and fallen off of the ceiling, according to KFRS.
The homeowner has now issued a warning to others to unplug all their electrical devices before leaving the house. He added: “As much as you listen to the advice, you never think it’s going to happen to you.
“Now when I leave the house, I make sure everything’s switched off at the plug, I make sure the doors are closed, and I test my smoke alarms every week. I can’t thank the crews enough for all they did.”
The crews from KFRS say that this blaze was particularly hard to tackle due to the metal cladding on the side of the house and the steep hill it was built on.
Iain, station leader at Tunbridge Wells, said: “We got the initial call at 11.30am and as we pulled up to the home you could see a lot of smoke and that it was a well-developed and severe fire.
“When you looked at the property, past both floors and up to the roof you could see smoke pulsing out of it and we knew that if we didn’t do something fast, the whole house was going to go.
“We identified that the source of the fire was in the kitchen, so we got a jet in through the window and started fighting it. The crews worked incredibly hard, and incredibly quickly. We used very aggressive firefighting tactics.
“The majority of the fire was contained to the kitchen, but there is a lot of smoke damage in the house. The smoke was so hot that it melted the smoke alarms in the hallway.
“But the rooms with the least damage are the ones where the doors were closed. If you’re going out for the day and your electrical item doesn't need to be on, then turn it off. It's not worth the risk."