A distraught mother-of-two has spoken of her utter “devastation” following an accidental fire that has left her and her young family homeless.
The fire, which was caused by a fault in the electric shower fuse, started at the Ballyhegan home of Paula and Mark Reynolds and their two children – aged nine and ten – on Tuesday evening (November 12).
Speaking to Armagh I, Paula described the moments before she discovered the blaze: “We had both just arrived home [Paula and Mark] around 8.30pm and I went to shower my kids.
“After them, I went to get showered but the shower went cold and I thought it must have broke but the water just went off then, so I knew something wasn’t right.
“I poured myself a bath instead but as soon as I got into bath something just didn’t feel right to me because the shower was quite new.
“I felt a weird feeling and then smelt a horrendous whiff of smoke and I looked at the bathroom window and a lot of smoke started to come in from outside and as soon as I saw this my son ran into the bathroom and shouted, “Mummy, my room is crackling!
“I jumped out of the bath and just started screaming for them to get out and I started shouting at my husband to ring the fire brigade because my hair was soaking and I wasn’t even dressed and I just wanted to try and get everyone out safe and our passports and phones and important things.”
Once outside, Paula said her neighbours rallied to help in any way they could, grabbing items as she threw them from the front door and ensuring her rabbits, parrot and dog all made it to safety.
While she is extremely grateful everyone made it out uninjured, the damage to the home is substantial. Regrettably, the home was uninsured.
Explained Paula: “So far I think the damage is worth about £50,000.
“The tank in the attic flooded the home so now it has no electric, no water and the roof may collapse because there are so many holes and the attic is that badly damaged that if the rain comes there is a possibility it could fall through.”
Through tears, Paula described how she “blames herself” for the allowing the insurance to run out on the property.
Candidly, she said it that with neither her nor her husband working full-time and the extortionate increase in their last renewal they “put it off and put it off” in search of cheaper deals and that she just never thought “anything like this would happen”.
“I have been trying to ring so many people to come and help cover the roof or price the work but no one can come.
“I know people can be busy but when I ring and they hear I have no insurance they don’t want to help us.
“I feel very helpless and right now we have nowhere to live permanently.”
The family have managed to relocate temporarily to a family member’s spare bedroom but with four of them sharing the space with all of their belongings and essentials, Paula says she is “grateful” but it is not ideal.
Their immediate concern is to cover the holes in the roof to prevent further damage to the property.
Paula said: “If there are any tradesmen who may be able to help please reach out.
“The community is fabulous and have helped with so many things from washing clothes to helping us gather stuff but we need people to help cover the roof to protect the building as much as possible.”
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