Mum-of-four homeless after tumble dryer blaze destroys family house
A family have been left with just the clothes on their backs after losing everything in a house fire caused by a tumble dryer.
Kerry Miller, 30, said she is now ‘traumatised’ after watching the family home, where she lived with her partner, four kids and their French bulldog Milo, go up in flames.
The mum had put a load of washing in to dry while she went about other chores and her 18-month-old son was playing in his bedroom.
Not long after, she was alerted by a passing driver who was sounding his horn and yelling at her to get out.
Ms Miller went to check and saw smoke and flames form from the rear outhouse where the dryer was.
Terrified, she grabbed her toddler and the bulldog and fled the semi-detached home in Leeds, West Yorkshire, just in time.
Moments later the blaze tore through the property leaving every room devastated and a huge hole in the roof.
The mum-of-four, her partner and her children are now homeless, having lost ‘their whole life’, until the council can find them alternative accommodation.
Describing the day of the fire, Ms Miller told The Sun: ‘I had put the tumble dryer on that morning while I was going about things downstairs and my little boy was in his bedroom.
‘About 10.30am a driver spotted flames coming out of the house at the back and honked his horn and alerted me about the danger.
‘I had not seen, heard or smelt anything until that point.
‘I went to kitchen and saw the fire. I shut the door and ran upstairs to get my son and also drag our dog Milo out of the house.’
She added she is relieved that no-one was hurt but is ‘devastated’ at losing all of their possessions.
Luckily, her three oldest children – two boys aged 11 and six and her eight-year-old daughter – were at school at the time of the blaze.
Ms Miller, who had bought the tumble dryer second hand just a year ago, highlighted the terrifying incident should be a warning to others to take special care with theirs.
Work to make the property safe with scaffolding has already began but the family has been told it will be ten months before they can move back in.
Friends have launched a gofundme appeal to raise cash to replace everything destroyed in the fire.
Her friend Jordine West said: ‘They have lost their whole life. They literally have the clothing that’s on their backs.
‘No matter how big or small the donation is it would greatly appreciated to help a family that’s now in need.’
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