Kaela Rigg, 46, was told her family could have died had the blaze happened overnight
Fire crews at Kaela Rigg’s home(Image: Kaela Rigg / SWNS)
A mum has described how a £13 ‘shoe warmer’ ignited and caused £200,000 worth of damage to her family home. Kaela Rigg said she had briefly returned home, in Oldham, to drop off some shopping when she detected a burning smell coming from her house.
The mum-of-two entered her five-bedroom detached property in Oldham and followed the smell until she arrived at her utility room, which was engulfed in black smoke seeping from the neighbouring garage door.
Dramatic video footage showed smoke “billowing” from her garage as firefighters worked to tackle the blaze on January 12. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) rushed to the scene shortly after 11am, and fortunately for Kaela, managed to extinguish the fire before it completely destroyed her house.
GMFRS have since confirmed that the blaze was ignited by an electric shoe warmer which Kaela, 46, had purchased from the social media platform TikTok to dry her son’s “smelly” rugby boots. The restaurant owner said the incident has resulted in over £200,000 worth of damage, and that her family are “lucky to be alive”.
TikTok say they have removed the product from their platform whilst they “fully investigate” the issue.
Kaela said: “Standing outside and seeing the smoke bellowing from the garage, it was devastating. I felt helpless, we had only just completed renovations the weeks before.
“The smoke from the fire has gotten into everything upstairs and downstairs, the walls, the furniture, electronics. The house is a mess.
“We are going to have to rip everything out and start again with everything which will cost around £200,000.
“Luckily we are insured but it is looking like around 12 months until we can move back in. But I am happy that we are alive as the firemen said if it had happened overnight it was likely that we would have been suffocated by the smoke.”
Kaela said at first she thought the “electrical burning” smell was something her husband had put on the log burner before he left for work that morning.
She said: “I had gone out to get my nails done and did some shopping and nipped home to drop it off before I was due to meet a friend to go on a dog walk. I pulled into the drive and thought something smelled funny, like it was burning.
“When I walked inside, there was this haze of smoke. At first, I thought it might have been something my husband put on the log burner, but when I checked the lounge and it wasn’t coming from there.
“I then walked into the kitchen and when I opened the door the smoke started bellowing out. I thought it was the oven, but it was fine.
“I then went and checked the air fryer in the utility room, and there was thick black smoke filling the room. The heat was also intense, luckily I didn’t open the door as if I did the firemen said I would have been thrown back and could have been killed.
“I could see it was coming from the garage door, which the utility room connects to and at this point, I knew I needed to get out.”
The mum says she then left the house alongside her five-year-old Shih-Poo called Georgie, and called the fire brigade who she says arrived within 10 minutes, and managed to put out the blaze.
‘I’m kicking myself for buying it’
Kaela has said that they told her it was caused by the shoe dryer, which she had plugged into the socket, with the wall switch switched on. She says it hadn’t used it for two weeks when it unexpectedly burst into flames.
Kaela says she is sharing her story with the hopes of spreading awareness when buying things from social media platforms. She said: “I’m kicking myself for buying it now.
“Since posting about it online, I have had a number of people reach out to me saying they have the exact same one. I just told them to bin it.
“I just feel so lucky to be here as what if it happened during the night when the kids were home, we could have died.
“I want to talk about it, as it will be worth it if I can save one person’s life.”
Kaela says her family are currently staying with her mum, Suedean, 75, until they are able to move back in.
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said: “At shortly after 11.10am on Tuesday, January 13, three fire engines from Rochdale and Oldham fire station were called to a fire involving the garage of a detached house on Whitebeam Close, Oldham.
“Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used hose reels to extinguish the fire and made the area safe alongside partners.
“The suspected cause of the fire was a fault with an electric device.
A TikTok spokesperson said: “We take the safety of our customers extremely seriously and we’re concerned to hear about this incident.
“We have removed this product from our platform whilst we fully investigate this issue.”
