Seven-year-old boy leaves his family homeless after accidentally torching their flat while playing with a lighter he found on top of the fridge
- Riley Stevens set fire to sofa cushion on October 19, 2018 after finding lighter
- Family’s council flat, in Hounslow, west London, severely damaged by blaze
- Mother Charlotte Hawksworth said she feels ‘guilty’ for leaving lighter on fridge
A seven-year-old boy has left his family homeless after he accidentally set fire to their flat while playing with a lighter.
Riley Stevens set fire to a cushion when he found his mother’s lighter hidden on top of the fridge while looking for confiscated toys at their home in west London.
Within minutes, the sofa was ‘covered in flames’ and the living room filled with smoke.
Seven-year-old Riley Stevens accidentally set fire to his family’s flat after finding his mother’s lighter on top of the fridge while looking for confiscated toys. The council flat, in Feltham, Hounslow, was quickly ravaged by the fire, on October 19 last year
By the time mother Charlotte Hawksworth noticed they had no choice but to run for safety and leave the flat to be ravaged by the fire.
Every wall in the once-immaculate second-floor council flat, in Feltham, Hounslow, was blackened by the thick smoke which destroyed all her furniture and belongings.
The fire, on October 19 last year, incinerated the living room and smoke made the flat – which Ms Hawksworth had recently spent £5,000 renovating – uninhabitable.
Ms Hawksworth is now sleeping on her father’s sofa with Riley (left), five-year-old Tyler Older and four-month-old daughter Nylah Shah. She didn’t know Riley had set fire to the sofa cushion until he came to see her and said ‘you’ll be really angry.’ The family then had to escape the flat
Heartbreaking video footage shows the family’s sofa reduced to a charred lump, wallpaper burned off the walls and the paint melted from the ceiling.
The mother-of-three, 24, is now sleeping on her father’s sofa with Riley, her other son Tyler, five, and her four-month-old baby daughter.
The detainee custody officer – who didn’t have home insurance – said: ‘I was devastated. The whole place was just gutted.
Flames incinerated the living room and smoke made the flat – which mother-of-three Charlotte Hawksworth had recently spent £5,000 renovating – uninhabitable
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‘Everything in the living room was completely gone. The hallway is badly damaged and the bedrooms are badly smoke damaged.
‘There was nothing we could save. The kids lost all of their toys.
Ms Hawksworth was bathing her then newborn baby, Nylah Shah, in another room when Riley started the fire.
Every wall in the once-immaculate council flat was blackened by the thick smoke which destroyed all of the family’s furniture and belongings
She didn’t know Riley had set fire to the sofa cushion until he came to see her in the bathroom and started crying.
He told her he ‘was sorry’ and said ‘you’ll be really angry’.
She said: ‘He was really crying so I went into the living room to see what he had done.
‘The sofa was covered in flames and the whole room was filled with smoke.
‘I just told the kids to get out. I knocked on doors on the way down but no one answered.’
Riley (left), pictured with Tyler. Ms Hawksworth said she took responsibility for the fire and ‘shouldn’t have left the lighter where I did.’ She claimed she has been told by Hounslow Council that it will be months before the family can move back in
She added: ‘I was petrified and the adrenaline took over.
‘I wrapped the baby in a blanket and told the kids to run.
‘I panicked and didn’t shut any doors behind me. I could have saved more.
‘It was really scary. It could have gone so wrong and been so much worse. The worst thought were going through my mind.
‘I feared the worst.’
Safely outside, the 24-year-old dialled 999 and firefighters arrived within minutes, but despite a speedy response, the flat was badly damaged in the blaze.
But she said she wasn’t angry with Riley.
‘It’s not his fault,’ she said.
‘I take responsibility and I am filled with regret about it.
Left: The master bedroom before it was ravaged by flames. Right: Riley’s room before the fire
‘I shouldn’t have left the lighter where I did. He said sorry and I’ve told him to never play with lighters.
‘He knows how much we have lost. He doesn’t have a Playstation or an iPad now.
‘But it could have been prevented and I feel guilty for that.
‘It has had a massive impact on our lives. I’m living on a sofa with a newborn baby.
‘It has been really hard for us,’ she added.
Ms Hawksworth claimed it will be months before the family can move back in to the flat, which is owned by Hounslow Council.
She said she can’t afford to rent a new property privately in the mean time and is facing a long wait to get her home back.
A London Fire Brigade spokesperson said: ‘We would always urge people to keep candles, lighters, matches or other fuel sources that could start a fire in safe places and away from children or pets to help prevent fires from starting.
‘A fire can develop within a matter of seconds and can have devastating consequences.’
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