North Scarle family loses home in fire thought to have been started by e-scooter

A devastated mother of four is appealing for support after losing her family home and two pets in a fire.

Cassie Loughton-Howe was asleep in her home on High Street, North Scarle with her husband and four sons when the house caught fire on Sunday (October 27).

It is suspected that the house fire was started by an e-scooter as it was the only electric device on the porch, even though it hadn’t been used in a week and was not charging.

Loretta Roche, Cassie’s aunt, has created a GoFundMe page to raise funds to support the family to get their lives together and re-build the house step-by-step.

People can donate at https://www.gofundme.com/f/family-home-fire-damage?lang=en_GB&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link.

Between 4am and 5am, Cassie was woken up by a loud bang, ran down the stairs and saw a fire on the porch and thick black smoke coming towards the stairs.

She said: “I always overthink things and I think if anything happened ‘I would do this, I would do that, I'd do that’.

“But you don't have time, I didn't have time to grab my son's bird, I didn't have time to grab anything else apart from the children because from the time I saw the smoke coming up the stairs, from standing there and getting the children and going back into the bedroom, the smoke was that thick and you were breathing in this thick, hot smoke and it was burning your throat and your lungs.

“It was in a matter of minutes, so you just don't have time to do anything or think about anything apart from, you know, grabbing your children. I'll never forget the feel of the smoke in my throat.

“It's traumatic and it's devastating but at the same time, you're relieved that you're alive.”

After waking up her children, Alby aged six, Reedus who is eight, nine-year-old Finn, and Shae, 14, as well as husband Chris, the family had to jump out of the window.

When they were outside, they noticed that one of their sons wasn’t there, as he had gone back into the house to grab something.

She added: “I was shouting in the window ‘where are you?’

“And he was going ‘Mommy, I can't see’, so I said to him, come to the window, and I was about to climb back in the window to get him but he managed to get to the window within seconds.”

The family were on the porch, which was where the fire started and had to jump onto the wheelie bins against the porch, to safely take the children one by one onto the driveway.

The family lost their pet dog Loki and a cockateil called Jackson belonging to one of the boys in the fire.

Once they were all outside, Cassie rang the emergency services who were there within minutes.

The neighbours helped them with clothes as they just ran out of the house straight from bed and the husband, Chris, and the children didn’t have any clothes on.

They were taken to the hospital where they were checked, and two of the boys needed oxygen.

Cassie added: “We're very up and down with emotions.

“We have moments of flashbacks and grief over the loss of our dog and our bird, but we are getting a lot of support from family and friends and even strangers.

“I really want to raise awareness about how bad e-scooters are.

“Obviously it wasn't confirmed that it was that, but there is a possibility that it was so that is a huge concern for me. If our story can make one person think ‘I will get rid of my e-scooter’ and save their life, then that's why I want to put it out there as well.”

The family home’s insurance used to renew itself automatically, but this year it didn’t happen so when the family contacted the insurance company, they realised that they have no insurance to cover the house fire or any of their things.

If people can donate any clothes or food they can drop them at the Lord Nelson pub in Besthorpe, where the family is staying as it is Chris’s mother’s Airbnb.

Anyone who can support the family with counselling can contact Cassie at cassieclairehowe@gmail.com.