Single mum and children flee burning flat as fire being treated as arson ‘completely destroys’ home and possessions

A single mother-of-three whose flat was “completely destroyed” in a fire being treated as arson has described the “devastating” night she had to wake her children to flee their burning home.

Sophie Webster, 28, lived in a two-bedroom flat which she rented through a housing association in Little Stanion near Corby, Northamptonshire, with her three young children, Ollie, seven, Ella, four and Hope, two, saying it was a home she had “built up all by myself”.

Just after 10.30pm on Sunday, August 11, Sophie said she was dozing off on the sofa bed in the living room with her youngest daughter when she awoke to the smell of smoke – before discovering her living room curtains were ablaze.

Sophie rushed out of the building with her children and waited outside for the emergency services, saying they were “lucky to get out when we did” but her property took significant fire and smoke damage resulting in the loss of their home and possessions.

She said her son, Ollie, has been “absolutely devastated” by the incident and has become “very clingy”, while her daughter, Ella, has been drawing “pictures of fires” or “scribbling in orange and yellow”.

The family will be staying with Sophie’s mother, Angela Burrows, 57, for the time being, and her friends have set up a GoFundMe page to help support them financially after they were informed they may not be able to return to the property for up to a year.

“I feel more anger now because it was my first home (after) having a child – I’ve built it all up by myself and then it’s just been completely destroyed,” Sophie, a stay-at-home mother, told PA Real Life.

Sophie moved into her two-bedroom flat which she rented through a housing association in 2017, saying it took a long time to “get it perfect” for her children.

“Ollie’s bedroom is how he wanted it, the girls’ room is how they wanted it – I got it all perfect, it took a while and now it’s all gone,” she said.

Recalling the events of the fateful night, Sophie said she was dozing off with her youngest child in the living room on a sofa bed, while her other two children were asleep in their rooms.

“The fire alarm hadn’t gone off or anything but I smelled the smoke and as I got up to see what it was, the living room curtains were on fire,” she said, adding her smoke alarms went off shortly after.

Sophie said she quickly fetched her two children from their bedrooms, as well as her youngest who was with her, and left the building before ringing 999.

She said she and her children stood by the side of the road in the middle of the night to wait for the emergency services, saying they arrived “within eight minutes” while she was still on the phone to them.

“At the same time, I had to think of the children and reach out to my mum so she could come and get them – none of the kids had any shoes on, it was cold.

“We were lucky to get out when we did.

“Most of the property is very damaged where the fire was and it’s damaged quite a lot of our items in the house.”

Sophie said her young children have been “affected” by the incident, with one of her daughters drawing “pictures of fires”.

“Every two seconds he’s saying ‘mum, I love you’, it has affected him – he’s seen (the fire) as well as we were trying to get out.

“My middle child, Ella, she’s been drawing pictures of fires or scribbling with orange and yellow saying ‘look at the fire, mummy’.

“It’s upsetting to see how it’s affected them and they haven’t forgotten it.”

“My mum had a drawing done of my grandad with Ollie, both of them were drawn together so it looks like they are together, as Ollie never got to meet him,” Sophie said.

“I’ve also just bought all the school uniforms for two of my children for when they go back in September.

“I had washed it all ready to iron, it was all on the clothes horse, we had the shoes on the table and it was all burnt in the fire.

Sophie hopes they will be able to find a home through the local council in the coming weeks and she hopes the GoFundMe page, which has been set up by her friends and has raised over £900 so far, will help to replace the everyday items they lost.

“We’re not allowed to move back to where the fire was and they’ve said it would take nine to 12 months to even have the flat back to normal,” Sophie said.

“The kids start school on the second or third of September, so we’re hoping to have everything they need back for when they start.”

A Northamptonshire Police spokeswoman said: “This incident happened sometime between 10.45pm on August 11 and midnight on August 12 when the living room curtains were set on fire inside a property in Corby.

“This caused a significant amount of damage though thankfully, no one was injured.

“We are treating this incident as arson and a 28-year-old man has been charged in connection with it.

“As this is a live investigation, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”

To find out more, visit the GoFundMe page for the family at www.gofundme.com/f/Flatfirelittlestanion.