A horrified mom has told how she saved her two children after a baby monitor exploded in her home.
Shannon Makepeace, 31, was baking cakes when her Hello Baby monitor, which was on the kitchen counter, started “hissing” and smoking.
She grabbed 1-year-old daughter Bonnie, who was asleep upstairs, and her son
Joey, 3, and dashed outside their home in Rugby, Warks.
Meanwhile, her mom Carmen, 51, smothered the burning device in a towel and threw it outside.
The fire broke out last Tuesday, Aug. 1, two weeks after Shannon bought the £39.99 ($50.87 USD) monitor from Amazon.
She says if the monitor had exploded while the family were asleep, the outcome could have been tragic.
She said: “It was a terrifying experience.
“The monitor was in the kitchen. It had fallen forwards by itself and was making a sort of hissing noise.
“Smoke was coming out of it really fast and filled the downstairs of my house within seconds. It smelled absolutely awful.
“It just happened really fast, it was like a whistling kettle.
“I told my mom the monitor was on fire and I thought it might really explode like you see electric bikes sometimes do.
“They sent me back some certificates from testing saying it theoretically shouldn’t happen.
“I was there and I saw it so we could take action quickly. We used that monitor every night and asleep. It’s often on a carpet.
“We’re unlucky that it happened but lucky it happened when and where it did.
“It burnt the kitchen worktop where it was. The danger was had I not been in there it would have escalated into a fire very quickly.”
Shannon’s mom Carmen said: “We believe the battery exploded.
“It was in use but not plugged into the mains.
“Luckily Shannon heard it bang and we were able to get the burning unit out of the house after only a few seconds.
“The whole downstairs filled with awful, acrid smoke.
“It was so scary but we feel lucky. The situation could’ve been a lot worse.”
Hello Baby and Amazon have not responded to SWNS’ requests for comment.
Produced in association with SWNS Talker
