The sister of a mum and two children who 'lost everything' after a blaze ripped through their home in south Manchester has told of their devastation.
The fire broke out in bedroom inside the terraced property on Heald Avenue in Rusholme on Wednesday afternoon (August 24). The family who lived there - a 26-year-old mum and her two boys, aged six and eight - managed to escape unhurt.
The two children were sat on the front doorstep eating ice cream at the time the blaze broke out, and their mum ran out of the house as soon as she saw her bedroom 'covered in smoke'. The sister of the mum - who said the family does not wish to be named - said they will now have to 'start right from the beginning' after losing most of their belongings including clothes, the children's toys and furniture.
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Speaking the Manchester Evening News about the blaze, she said: "My sister was downstairs, the two little boys were sat on the doorstep eating their ice creams they had just got. She heard the smoke alarm going off downstairs but sometimes it goes off and she just has to bang it with a mop.
"She went up the stairs and noticed a bit of smoke but her bedroom door was closed. She opened it and the bedroom was covered in smoke.
"She went straight outside with the boys then within a couple of minutes the smoke blew up in flames, the window of the bedroom burst out. The smoke and fire travelled into the back room and ruined all the boy's stuff, they've literally got nothing left."
She said that the family believed the fire was down to an electrical fault. An investigation by the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service is ongoing.
The upstairs of the house has been left completely ruined with the front window smashed through, she added. Items downstairs have also been left damaged by the water used to hose down the flames.
The family are having to live in a hotel for the time-being, before the housing association that look after the property will move them to emergency housing accomodation. The mum's sister said they are all fine physically, but have been left devastated after losing their belongings.
"They're all fine. They're not allowed back, there's damage upstairs and then because of the water they've used everything downstairs is not useable", she said. "We went back into the house to see if we could anything for the boys and there was nothing.
"Everything was ruined, their games, their Nintendo's, their toys, the TV, it was horrendous. Clothes are ruined.
"There's sentimental things as well, we lost our nana not long ago and there were some of her belongings in there that were ruined as well. Just things that you can never get back, everything else is replaceable, but it's the sentimental things. She's got to start right from the beginning now."
A fundraiser has been set up to help the family replace their lost items. So far, more than £400 has been raised.
The money donated will be used to buy clothes, furniture that was ruined and replace the boy's games and toys. You can donate to the Go Fund Me for the family here.
As the fire ripped through the house on Wednesday, part of Heald Avenue had to be taped off while firefighters worked at the scene. Crews arrived shortly before 5pm and remained at the scene until after 7pm.
In a statement issued after the fire, a spokesperson for GMFRS said: "Just before 5pm this afternoon firefighters from Manchester Central, Salford and Whitehill attended a fire in a house on Heald Avenue, Manchester, where there were fears that people were missing inside the burning house.
"Firefighters doused the flames and conducted two searches of the property, establishing that all occupants were safe and accounted for. Firefighters were at the scene for just over two hours."
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