House fire begun by candle wrecks mum-of-four’s Dinas Powys home

Ms Taylor was downstairs eating dinner when her fire alarms went off and by the team she ran upstairs, she said her whole bedroom was on fire.

“When I noticed the fire I realised there was nothing to do,” she said.

Ms Taylor said a candle fell on her bed but because a window was open, smoke was getting out and letting in oxygen, so the fire alarm was delayed in its response.

She said she had “no feeling” until she knew everyone was out of the house in safety: “My cousins were downstairs and they’re only 17, I told them to go home to ring my mum,”

“I rang 999 and got all my neighbours out of the houses attached to mine.

“The fire brigade took eight minutes to arrive. When they arrived the fire was spread by that point. They couldn’t find the fire hydrant outside which delayed it even more.

“It took around an hour to two hours to make sure it was OK. It was a very long process,” she added.