Michelle Russell and her son Mark Picture Ref: 77398-23A MUM-OF-FIVE has started the long clear-up operation after a bedroom blaze in the family home.

Michelle Russell thinks that it will be two months before her son will be able to move back into his bedroom which was gutted by the fire.

As reported in the late edition of yesterday's Adver, the family had a lucky escape after a mobile phone charger caught fire in the back bedroom of their Redcliffe Street house.

Now Miss Russell, 35, has the painful task of trying to clear up the damage to six-year-old Jason's room.

"I have emptied the room now," she said. "Everything has gone, all of Jason's toys.

"I have got to wait for my landlord's insurance people to come round before anything can be done. I think it is going to be about two months. It is going to be difficult."

Miss Russell was woken by a crackling sound early yesterday morning and saw black smoke billowing from Jason's room.

Jason prefers to sleep in with seven-year-old brother Jordan, and sisters Charlotte, nine, and Ashleigh, 10, in the room next door. Her 17-year-old son Mark was due to sleep in the room that night.

Luckily he had fallen asleep on the sofa downstairs and everyone escaped from the house safely.

"If I hadn't woken up it could have taken all our lives," said Miss Russell, 35.

"It has made me realise how something so stupid can cause so much damage."

Mark, who had left his Nokia mobile phone charger plugged in but without the phone attached, was grateful his mum had been woken up.

"What scares me is that the fire would have got to the kids before it got to me," he said.

"Who knew a mobile phone charger could cause so much damage?"

A Nokia spokeswoman said: "While we are sorry to hear of the incident, until the fire authority's report and detailed forensic investigation are complete we are unable to comment on the cause of the fire."

The four younger children, who all have the surname Reed and attend Gorse Hill Infants or Juniors, are staying with their dad while Miss Russell and Mark clear up some of the damage.

The family's smoke alarm, which had been on the landing outside the bedrooms, had fallen down yesterday and was waiting to be put back up.

It is the second time the family has suffered a fire at home.

In 2003 a plug socket in their old house in Gooch Street, off Manchester Road, caught fire during the day, causing extensive damage.

Pete Townsend, station commander at Swindon fire station, said houses should be fitted with two smoke alarms, at the top and bottom of the stairs, and warned of the dangers of leaving chargers plugged in when not in use.

Firefighters went to see other local residents last night to offer fire safety advice and install free smoke alarms were needed.

Anyone who wants safety advice should contact their local fire station.

Diana Milne