Great Lever fire destroys family home

Fire crews were called to Litherland Road in Great Lever after an electrical fault caused the fridge freezer to set alight after the smoke alarms sounded, waking a mum and her children.

The blaze broke out yesterday.

Nasima Gadim, aged 35 told The Bolton News: "Me and my children went to bed at 11pm.

"I woke up at 12.30am and all house alarms were ringing, I was shouting to my daughter why is the alarm ringing, let's check downstairs.

Read more: Family left homeless after electrical fire destroys home

"My daughter was screaming 'mum, it's a fire!"

She added: "I ran upstairs and woke up my two sons, and my youngest daughter, she was sleeping, I tried to wake her but couldn't.

The home on Litherland Road which was destroyed by the fire early on Wednesday morning (Image: The Bolton News)

"So I just grabbed her but the smoke on the stairs and we were struggling to go down.

"In 15 minutes it was everywhere.

"If the alarm wasn't ringing then in three or four minutes we'd have been gone."

Nasima added: "It was really shocking for me. We just came out no shoes, no clothes, I don't have anything for me and my children.

"I'm shocked - I'm just thinking how has this happened.

"My daughter and my 13-year-old son really supported me, my whole body was shaking.

"I tried to call the ambulance and my daughter and son called the ambulance, they held my hand and held me, said mum don't worry.

"My son just bought new clothes, new shoes.

"But I keep telling them if your lives are well, you will be okay, just thank God."

So devastating was the fire, the family have had to be rehomed.

Local residents ran to help and offered to the family up.

Now a neighbour has set up a GoFundMe page to help the family.

A burnt door from the house (Image: The Bolton News)

And the money will go food, clothes and other essentials.

The neighbour who set it up said: “The mum is a very hardworking mother who does all she can for her children and it's terrible that something like this has happened.

“It's half term at the moment and before the children go back to school, it would be nice to help them out and get some sense of stability.”

Looking out onto the street from a neighbours house, lights from emergency service vehicles can be seen (Image: The Bolton News)

Fire officers say that the fire highlights the importance of smoke alarms.

A spokesman for Bolton Central Fire Station said: “No one was injured but they were very lucky to get out, there was five children and two adults.

“They got themselves out prior to us arriving but the whole house has been completely destroyed and they’ve had to be rehoused by Bolton at Home.

“We’ve put the fire down to an electrical fire with a fridge-freezer.

“We were there for about two hours and there were two crews from Bolton Central and one crew from Farnworth who attended.

“They lost everything in the house, and we want to highlight the importance of smoke alarms as that was the reason, they all got out safe and well because the early detection of the smoke alarms alerted the family as they were all in bed asleep.

“Also keeping doors shut was another saving grace for them and gave them extra time to get out.”

Donations can be made to the GoFundMe here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/jyrres-fire-destroys-family-home