Family with six children escapes Redmile house fire

Ruined belongings fill the front garden following the fire at the house in Easthorpe Lane, Redmile.

One of the youngsters accidentally started the fire when they found a lighter and set fire to some paper, which spread to the curtains. The children were all playing in the bedroom at the time.

The fire broke out in the two-storey terraced house in Easthorpe Lane, Redmile, at about 7pm on Saturday.

The whole of the first floor was badly fire damaged and the ground floor suffered water damage after the blaze was tackled by three fire crews.

The gutted bedroom where the fire began at the house in Easthorpe Lane, Redmile.

Mum Tia Bond, 33, who is expecting her seventh child, said her family is living with her mother in the village while they try to make the house fit to live in again.

Miss Bond, who lives with her partner Shaun Smith and their children, between the ages of two and 15, said her two-year-old son was on the top of a bunk bed at the time and her 20-year-old step-daughter raced upstairs to rescue him as he could not get down from the bed.

Miss Bond said: “It was literally just a case of grab them and run. The children were in a state. One of my boys shouted ‘fire!’ and everybody legged it.”

She added: “Everybody is OK. We are all just a bit shook up. But it was a pure accident. We just want to get back in the house before Christmas.”

The children are aged 15, 12, nine, seven, four, and two. It was the nine-year-old son’s birthday on the day.

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue said the first floor was ‘well alight’ when crews  arrived.