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FAMILY FLEES HOME BLAZE
A MOTHER and three of her children were left unharmed after they escaped from a blaze at their home through a hatch in the fence originally put in to make it easier to pass milk from their grandma's house who lived behind them.
Debra Gitsham and three of her sons - Jack, six, Leon, three, and David, three months - climbed through the hole after a fire which started in an upstairs bedroom spread through the house and to the adjoining property.
Ms Giltsham's five other children were already at their grandma's house in the Manor Estate, Toll Bar, at the time of the fire at just before 7pm on Saturday, and her nine cats were also safely rescued.
But both council houses suffered extensive damage and Ms Giltsham's family, along with the neighbouring family of six, have had to be rehoused.
Ms Gitsham explained what happened: "We had only been in about 15 minutes - my six year old had gone upstairs to watch television but came down a few minutes later and said the curtain was on fire. The smoke alarm was going off and me and the kids just got out as quickly as possible."
Her eldest son Matthew, 15, tried to stamp the fire out but it had already taken hold.
A spokesman for the fire brigade said the likely cause was a child playing with a cigarette lighter, though Ms Gitsham said she had been having trouble with her electricity and this could have been the cause. She said: "The electricity has been tripping on and off for the past couple of weeks. An electrician came out and said that the whole house needed to be re-wired but we have heard nothing since then. The curtain where the fire started was hanging down over an electric point so I think it could have been a faulty plug socket."
She added: "I am still pretty shaken up by all this really, everything is gone."
Grandma Ruth Gitsham said: "We only put that hatch in to pass milk from my house to Debbie's but it's a good job it was there."
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Weather for Doncaster
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
