Sutterton fire: Charger warning as blaze rips through home

A fire that ripped through a family home was started by an e-cigarette charger that was left plugged in.

Graham Nicholls and one of his two sons were asleep in their house in Sutterton, Lincolnshire, when the fire broke out.

It caused thousands of pounds of damage and Mr Nicholls urged people not to leave devices charging while they were asleep or out of the house.

He said it was not "worth the risk for the devastation it can cause".

Mr Nicholls said when he and his son jumped out of their beds as they discovered the fire on 11 December they "grabbed some bowls and buckets from downstairs and ran back upstairs and tried to put the fire out".

"I was crawling under the smoke at one point, chucking water on it," Mr Nicholls said.

"It died down a little bit and I was thinking I was getting there. By the time I got back with another bucket of water from the bathroom it was just up again, to the point where I couldn't see and I couldn't breathe."

He was given oxygen by firefighters and taken to hospital by ambulance, but recovered quickly.

The home was badly damaged and every roof joist was left burnt by the fire.

Mr Nicholls said he was is now rebuilding his house with the help of his family but did not expect to move back in until March.

"My wife's terrible for switching everything off and I used to laugh and tell her she was paranoid," he said.

"I used to tell her to stop moaning at the kids. But it's actually not fine.

"It's worth that couple of minutes just checking because it's not worth the risk for the devastation it can cause."

Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service urged people to keep devices nearby when they were plugged in and to only use genuine chargers and batteries as counterfeit electronics were at much higher risk of starting a fire.

Dan Moss from the fire service said: "It's that fantastic time of year and we don't want to be killjoys, but we ask people to only have their Christmas lights on when they are at home.

"If you go out or go to bed, please make sure they are turned off."

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