Mum 'traumatised' after baby trapped in fire

A mother has described how she was left "screaming, shaking and crying" after a fire broke out at her home, in the room where her one-year-old son was sitting.

Tiffany, 19, said she feared for her baby's life as she could not reach him through the "thick smoke" that engulfed the house in Bury on Sunday.

"I'm very traumatised," Tiffany told BBC Radio Manchester. "I was screaming, 'someone please help me, don't let my baby die'. My neighbour's partner went straight in and got him out."

Tiffany and her sons, Arlo and Elijah, were taken to hospital after inhaling smoke and have since been discharged. She said she was "heartbroken" to have lost all their belongings in the blaze.

The fire broke out at about 20:00 BST on Sunday, a Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) spokesperson said.

Three people were assessed at the scene after suffering from smoke inhalation and were adviced to attend hospital for "precautionary checks", they added.

Crews tackled the fire over an hour and 45 minutes.

Tiffany said she first became aware of a burning smell, which she described as like "wet hair on a hair curler", and a loud sound followed.

"I went to check on Arlo in the front room and I heard a massive bang," she told BBC Radio Manchester.

"At first I thought it might be my TV maybe, and then I saw the black thick smoke.

"It was a fire, but I couldn't work out whereabouts it was coming from.

"That's when the panic really started - I was trying to get to my baby, but I couldn't get through because the smoke was really bad.

"I got my two-year-old son Elijah to the door and I was screaming with him."

Tiffany's screams reached her neighbour - who arrived with her partner, who was able to rescue Arlo from the front room.

"I can't breathe because I've got severe asthma so I was quite chesty - I was crying, I was quite in shock," Tiffany said. "I was very, very scared.

"The smoke was quite thick and it filled the whole front room within seconds."

The mum described her neighbour's boyfriend as "my children's hero".

"If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't have made it," she said.

"It was absolutely heartbreaking," Tiffany said of witnessing her home burning.

"There were things inside there that were sentimental that I can't get back.

"It's like, my whole life has just gone like that."

In the week since the fire, Tiffany said she has been helped by the "power of social media" - after she began a fundraising appeal online to help replace her belongings.

"I'm still like very traumatised and shaken up, but definitely feel like a big weight's lifted off my shoulder with the power of people on social media who have helped," she said.

"It has helped me get my children some clothes and everything, and it's off a bunch of wonderful people."

Tiffany said the donations meant even more to her, as it is her eldest son Elijah's third birthday this weekend.

"I'm very grateful for the people around me who bought him new presents, as we did lose the presents in the fire," she said.

"It's nice to know there's still people out there who will help a stranger, and help my children."

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