04 November 2023 , 22:43
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A family had a lucky escape after their house burnt down during Halloween.
Deanne Morgan, her daughters Faith, five, and Darcy, three, and her partner Mike Clemens were all asleep at home when the smoke alarm went off in the middle of the night. The 27-year-old and her partner grabbed the girls in a hurry and rushed out, running past the living room and kitchen where a fire raged on.
All four of them managed to escape the burning home and tried to rouse the neighbours and get them out too, but not all responded. Three fire engines from stations in Plymouth rushed to the scene in the small hours of Tuesday morning (October 31) and brought the fire under control.
Deanne, who works for a local building merchant in their sales and marketing department, said it came after a difficult year. She said: "I lost my dad three days before Christmas last year. He had an auto-immune disease and they were doing tests on him. I had a call at 2am that day to say they'd called an ambulance for him after he stopped breathing.
The devastation after a humidifier caught on fire (Deanne Morgan)"Dad was a well-known man in Plymouth. His funeral was so well attended I've never seen anything like it. He was only 54. My girls lost their nan too this year and now this. It hasn't been the best of years. But we're all alive and that's all that matters. I guess all you've got to do is keep going."
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Deanne said the family would have been made homeless had she and Mike not signed a tenancy lease on another property on the other side of the city days before the tragic fire happened.
She added: "I'm so thankful that the smoke alarm worked. Ten more minutes and it would have been another story altogether. It's also lucky that we signed this tenancy agreement. It had been a bit rushed but we both loved it so we said let's do it and move in together.
"I had packed our stuff into boxes and it's all gone. I had to buy some shoes and clothes for me and the girls in an emergency because we had nothing left. I fled the house in just a T-shirt and pants. So thank you 24-hour Asda! But what I'm most upset about is that everything I had kept from my dad is all gone.
"The memory boxes I had made from when the girls were babies are gone too. But it's better to have them alive with me than be left with a box. We'll just have to carry on I guess. My landlord was brilliant and so have my employer and the schools where my daughters go. Everyone has been so supportive."
The mum said the most important thing is that Faith, Darcy as well as herself and Mike were unhurt. "I tried to get all the neighbours out too as I wanted everyone to be safe," she added. "Some didn't even want to get out. But at least the fire did not spread so thankfully everyone is safe which is the main thing."
Plymouth Live reported that Deanne has lost almost everything from clothes and belongings packed inboxes ready for the move to furniture. As she didn't have content insurance all that is a write-off but she's been able to use some of her savings to order new appliances and furniture which will go in the new house.
Now her best friend Jamie-Leigh Hawthorne has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help Deanne and the girls. On the campaign page she said: "My best friend Deanne, her two daughters and fiancé Mike lost their home and all their belongings in the early hours of Tuesday morning to a devastating house fire. Thankfully they just managed to get out in time but lost everything in their living room and kitchen and the whole house smoke damaged."
To view the fundraiser visit here.