Mum-to-be issues warning to NEVER leave your vacuum cleaner plugged in – as she shares awful fire damage left by inferno
A MOTHER-TO-BE has shared a stern warning to never leave vacuum cleaners plugged in.
Tanya Bennett has revealed shocking footage of the horrendous fire damage done to her home, after the common household appliance caught fire and destroyed her property.
Posting on social media in a clip that has quickly gone viral, the content creator gave her followers a close-up look at the endless soot in her home, which she blamed on an “electrical fault.”
Alongside crying emojis, Tanya, a 36-year-old woman who is currently 22 weeks pregnant with her first child, a baby boy, said: “Oh my god, the hoover set on fire.”
She then advised: “Don’t leave your hoovers plugged in guys – please unplug this, I was so lucky it was caught in time and my dogs got out safe from the firefighters.”
Tanya confirmed that she was at work at the time of the fire.
It was the 36-year-old’s neighbour who alerted her and the fire brigade to the casualty on Monday (9th June), where Tanya’s three dogs were trapped inside.
She confessed that her vacuum cleaner had been plugged in and turned on at the wall for 18 hours, but the actual appliance wasn’t switched on at the time of the inferno.
In a follow-up clip, Tanya, who is from Telford, Shropshire, showed off the damage to not only her belongings but also to the floors, walls and stairs of the property.
As a result of the fire, every room in the house has been damaged, apart from the kitchen, leaving Tanya homeless and in temporary accommodation.
She confirmed that she wants to show off the full extent of the damage of the house fire to be “a deterrent to never leave anything plugged in when you’re not home.”
Tanya then confirmed: “The fire started in the living room and it looks like someone has sprayed the house floor to ceiling in black.”
Tanya’s cream sofa, which she bought just a week before the fire, looked grey as a result of the fire damage.
Not only this, but her living room windows had been smashed by fire fighters in a bid to enter the property and rescue Tanya’s dogs from the blaze.
The fire started in the living room and it looks like someone has sprayed the house floor to ceiling in black Tanya Bennett
Stunned by the damage, Tanya shared: “The extent of the damage is just crazy, you would never, ever, think that the smoke would take hold of the house in the way that it did – there’s not an inch that’s not covered in soot.”
Tanya later confirmed that she had only lived in the property for a few months prior to the fire and as expected, is gutted by the blaze, as she admitted: “It makes me so sad looking at it.”
The 8 fire safety checks you should do in your home every night
TO avoid a devastating fire in your home, there are some checks you should be conducting every night, according to Gov.uk.
- Close inside doors at night to stop a fire from spreading
- Turn off and unplug electrical appliances unless they are designed to be left on – like your freezer.
- Check your cooker is turned off
- Don’t run appliances such as washing machines, tumble dryers and dishwashers overnight
- Turn heaters off and put up fireguards
- Put candles and cigarettes out properly
- Make sure exits are kept clear
- Keep door and window keys where everyone can find them
Social media users react
The TikTok clip, which was posted under the username @justbeing_tan, has clearly left many open-mouthed, as it has quickly gone viral and racked up a jaw-dropping 11.1million views.
It’s also amassed 473,200 likes, 4,506 comments and 59,300 shares.
Social media users were horrified by the horrendous damage to Tanya’s home and eagerly raced to the comments to comment on the “scary” house fire.
One person said: “New fear unlocked.”
Another added: “Honestly so scary. Thank god you are all ok!”
I pray you have insurance TikTok user
A third commented: “This is so scary!! Hope everyone is okay.”
At the same time, someone else asked: “Wait, it just randomly combusted from being plugged in? That’s insanely worrying.”
In response, Tanya replied and confirmed: “Yeah!!! Absolutely crazy, like how does that even happen!!!”
Meanwhile, someone else wrote: “I pray you have insurance.”
To this, Tanya wrote back and cried: “I don’t, only building insurance, not contents.”
Tanya speaks out
Since going viral online, Tanya told NeedToKnow: “I’m absolutely devastated, helpless and in shock.
“I couldn’t believe it when the firefighters said it was caused by the vacuum cleaner.
“I’m now homeless and my dogs have had to go to my friend’s house as I can’t keep them in my temporary accommodation.
“I’d left the vacuum cleaner plugged into the wall after cleaning the night before.
“I was at work and the neighbour called to say my house was on fire and she’d called the fire brigade.
“When I got home, the firefighters had only recovered one dog as he was in the kitchen which was the only room that wasn’t damaged because the door was shut.
I need to replace everything and it will cost thousands Tanya Bennett
“The other two dogs were trapped upstairs by the smoke.
“It was heartbreaking. I was screaming and crying and they brought the dogs out one by one. They were black.”
Shocked by the damage, the marketing manager continued: “It’s thick and black. All the furniture is covered in soot, the TV cabinet is melted and all of my drawers of clothes are covered in soot.
“Basically, every single item in my house is covered by smoke. There’s not one single item that is not. I need to replace everything and it will cost thousands.
“The whole house needs specialist cleaning and I can’t go in without PPE.”
With the house now completely uninhabitable, Tanya is living in temporary accommodation and doesn’t know when she’ll be able to go home.
Tanya added: “I didn’t think that a vacuum cleaner could even catch fire. How much damage it’s caused is crazy.
“Apparently, the dust particles inside are very combustible.”
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