A Dunfermline mum says it is a “miracle” her family survived a house fire that left her and two of her children in comas.
It is thought a faulty extension cable started the blaze as Kayleigh Guthrie slept in her home with daughters Jaimee, 11, and Darci, seven, and five-year-old son Gavin.
Her other daughter, Brooklynn, was staying with a relative when the property on Frederick Crescent went up in flames.
Speaking for the first time since the fire earlier this month, Kayleigh has told The Courier of the moment Jaimee raised the alarm as she was trapped upstairs with two of the kids.
She said: “Jaimee woke up and thought she was having a nightmare.
“She attempted to get out the front door but she couldn’t get out for the heat in the living room, the whole room was covered in flames.
“She had to run back through the living room and got herself out through the kitchen window and ran round the side of the house, and battered on the front door to get us up.
“I was asleep when the fire started and I ran down the stairs thinking it was help at the door, but it was actually Jaimee.
“I came down and opened the door and ran back up to get the kids, but me opening the door let air into the fire and it followed me up the stairs – which meant I was trapped in the bedroom with the two younger kids.”
Kayleigh says Jaimee then raised the alarm with one of the neighbours, who called the fire service.
“My two youngest kids, Darci and Gavin, were both asleep upstairs and we were all carried out of the top window of the house by the fire brigade on a ladder,” she said.
“I was terrified. I have burns from hanging out the window, I was screaming for help, just saying ‘please, anyone help us’.
“I was desperate, I didn’t think we’d ever make it out of there alive.
“The children were pretty much lifeless and got carried out the house. One of the kids was fitting while they were taken into the ambulance and one of them had no movement at all.”
Kayleigh and the children were taken away in an ambulance to Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy
Jamiee was checked over but did not receive any treatment. However Kayleigh, along with Gavin, 5, and Darci, 7, were seriously unwell.
“Gavin and Darci were put in comas when they reached Kirkcaldy hospital and then transported to Edinburgh Sick Kids to be treated for smoke inhalation,” she said.
“I was told I would probably be fine because I was an adult and that because my lungs were fully formed I’d be able to handle it.
‘Desperation’ to see children after waking up
“The next day I was taken from the observation room straight into resus and 10 minutes later I was in a coma.
“I brought myself around after two days and I think Gavin was in a coma for five days, he also brought himself around.
“They woke Darci up the day after Gavin.
“As soon as I came around, it was just desperation to see my kids.”
Kayleigh has described her escape, and subsequent recovery, as a “miracle”.
She continued: “I lost my mum exactly two months before, and I lost my dad a few years ago.
“We’ve just got to believe that my mum and dad saved us.”
Investigations into what started the fire are still ongoing but Kayleigh says it is thought an extension cable that had not been wound up properly was the likely cause.
‘Turn electrical appliances off’
She is now encouraging people not to leave electrical items running overnight.
“Just turn everything off,” Kayleigh said.
“Charging phones in this house happens between 7pm and 8pm and then everything is turned off after that.
“We’ve had nothing salvageable from the house at all, the inside of the house is completely back to the brick, there are no pipes or cables, gas, electric, everything is gone.
“It’s not a house any more.”
Members of the community have rallied to provide food, clothes and other essentials for Kayleigh and the children since the fire.
A GoFundMe launched after the blaze by friend Stephanie Gamble has now raised more than £6,000 to help the family get back on their feet.
Kayleigh, who is now staying with her brother, added: “It’s been absolutely phenomenal because we have nothing left, nothing at all.
“Obviously I wasn’t aware because I was in a coma at the time but I woke up to know that there had been bags of clothes dropped off, food and we’d been offered furniture.
“I lost my phone, my bank cards, my ID, so if it hadn’t been for everyone going out and doing that, and the donations we’ve had, we wouldn’t have had anything.
“But my kids were just the most important thing, they are not replaceable.”
