Mum and baby lose everything in flat fire

A mum says her 17-month-old daughter managed to alert her to a fire in their flat. Keira McCarthy, 19, says if it wasn't for the little girl who brought her mum to the flames in the kitchen the situation could have been a lot worse.

The young mum and her daughter had to flee their home in Bettws, Newport, after their fire alarm failed to go off on Friday, June 7. In the process they have lost everything in the flames which quickly took hold of their home.

The pair are now having to stay at Kiera's mum's house with all of them in the same bedroom but this has proved to be challenging as Keira says baby Marliya was "in a routine" in the flat and this has now been turned upside-down. For the latest Newport news sign up to our newsletter here.

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Kiera's flat is currently uninhabitable with many of her belongings ruined. She says most of it unsalvageable as a result of water and smoke damage. She said: "I was in the kitchen cooking making some breakfast for my baby. She's attached to my hip all the time and as I'm making breakfast I glance over to the microwave, which is next to the oven, and I think she kicked the hob dial because they are so easy to flick on.

"Her bottle steriliser was on top of the hob so it must have started from there but the fire alarms didn't go off so I went back into the living room and fed her breakfast and everything. So this fire must have been going on while I'm feeding her breakfast. She basically finished her breakfast and goes back into her bedroom, playing, and she must have seen it.

"She came back into the living room and was pulling me and so I went with her. She's 17 months and was showing me there was a fire. The fire alarm still hasn't gone off at this point and it must have been going on for like 10 minutes and it was quite big at that point.

"I was thinking: 'Do I try and put it out? Do I not?' It didn't seem too big but my baby was breathing in the smoke. So I thought: 'No, I'm going to have to leave.' So I left."

Kiera, who lives in a top-floor flat, rang the fire brigade straightaway. After another 10 minutes the fire alarm went off and the fire and rescue service arrived. Want fewer ads? Download WalesOnline’s Premium app on Apple or Android.

She said: "The fire brigade opened all the windows but you could see the black smoke coming out and honestly it was horrific. Usually my baby goes down for a nap at that time, I go in my bedroom and I shut the door, and if that was the case and we were in bed we wouldn't have got out. By the time the fire alarm went off we probably would have been dead so we are quite lucky that we actually got out. It's so lucky that I was awake and I was able to get to the fire and see it to get out in time."

It was just Kiera and Marliya in the flat at the time and Kiera, who has no home insurance, has found that dealing with the event so unexpectedly as a young person has been difficult as she says there is little information available to guide her through what to do until she can find new accommodation. A fundraiser set up by her aunt has now raised £755 and counting to help support her for the meantime.

She said: "I'd been so happy living in that flat. I built everything up over time and managed to get everything that I needed and it is quite sad to be honest. I was finally in a place in my life where I was happy and now it just feels like I've lost everything. I feel like I don't really know where to go, who to go to about it.

"It's hard for my Marliya as well because she's always been in her own room. She's out of routine and doesn't know what's going on and she's quite miserable because she's just so confused."

Kiera's aunt Kerrianne Harris wrote on the fundraiser: "As a family we are rallying around to try to provide as much as we can for them but a lots of friends have suggested setting up this page as a way of others being able to help them too. Anything would be very gratefully received... I know things are so hard for everyone right now too."

As Kiera's flat is owned by her local council she has requested to be moved into new accommodation in Bettws or somewhere else nearby so she can be close to family. If you want to donate to the family's fundraiser you can visit the page here.