Family’s lucky escape after charger bursts into flames

A FAMILY had a lucky escape after a charger burst into flames in the middle of the night.

Dramatic CCTV footage showed the moment a charging battery exploded in a Cardiff bedroom before setting the carpet and blinds on fire within a matter of minutes.

Pontprennau businessman Mark Edmunds was forced to jump into action at 3am on Thursday after leaving his drone to charge overnight.

Footage from the outside of the house shows a large flash of light from the upstairs window, followed by a cloud of smoke.

Mark, 46, said: “I was in bed asleep and then at 3am it went off – it was just like a rocket or fireworks.

“All the sparks were going across the bedroom, the smoke was coming out and the flames must have been so hot that they ignited all the blinds which are fire resistant.”

Thanks to the father of two’s quick response, and with the help of his son Rhys, the fire was extinguished within five minutes.

But the situation could easily have ended in tragedy, the dad has warned.

Mark said: “My son works with me and he was focused straight away so I told him to get a bucket and fill it up with water.

“I went to the bathroom, turned the shower head on and put two damp towels under it.

“We threw the water over the battery but it was still engulfed in flames.

“From there we had to take the quick decision to throw the blinds out of the window. We had to get another bucket of water straight over everything because the carpet was alight as well.”

After looking over the video footage of the fire the family have been left shaken.

Mark, who owns a garage conversion company, added: “We watched the footage back and we just went cold.

“It all happened in three minutes, it’s unbelievable – you couldn’t see anything with all the black smoke in the room.

“I work with my son so we know how we both think and could work together but if you have a wife and three young kids you aren’t going to be able to do that.”

He added: “I’ve charged the drone loads of loads of times, it’s not a new toy. I’ve had it over four years easily.

“I took it to the bedroom to charge as I didn’t want it to charge where I couldn’t see it.”

Since the incident the family now want to warn other people of the dangers of leaving chargers unattended.

Mark said: “I just needed to be shared.

“If it only saves one life or two lives that’s better than nothing.

“It’s just a matter of being sensible. I know my family will never charge anything at night now, it doesn’t even need to be discussed.

“Upstairs we have USB sockets because they are safer than putting the whole plug in and that’s what we want to do in the kitchen now too.”

A spokesman for South Wales Fire and Rescue said: “A call came in at 2.58am to a small house fire. Crews were mobilised from Roath and Whitchurch.

“The fire was initially extinguished by the occupant and support was provided by crews. The ‘stop message’ was received at 3.17am and the cause was deemed to be accidental from an electronic device.” felt this