Cheryl Whitter, 44, was left devastated after an e-bike ‘exploded’ in her living room, causing an inferno that ‘climbed up the walls and across the ceiling’ forcing her son to jump from a window to safety
A ‘devastated’ mum detected a ‘very strong’ smell of ‘nail varnish remover’ before her house exploded, forcing her son to jump from the window to save his life.
Cheryl Whitter, 44, saw her world torn apart last week when an e-bike ‘exploded’ in her front room, sparking a blaze that went ‘climbing up the walls and across the ceiling’. The Mitcham property in Lewis Road property burst into flames at around 8.10am last Friday (October 17), with shocking images revealing the devastation left by the ferocious fire.
Cheryl and her four children, Kyron, 22, Che, 20, Lexi, 16, and Karim, 10, are now squeezed into a Premier Inn in Colliers Wood, after their home of 12 years was left blackened and unliveable. The mum-of-four is too traumatised to speak out, but MyLondon has chatted to her sister.
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Full-time carer Debbie Whitter, 58, from Coulsdon said her ‘legs gave way’ and she ‘couldn’t stand up’, fearing her sister ‘was dead’ after a mate told her that Cheryl’s house had been engulfed in flames.
She said: “I rang my sister, couldn’t get through, I rang all her kids, and couldn’t get through. Panic then kicked in and my legs collapsed, I couldn’t stand up. I nearly had a heart attack, that’s my baby sister – it was the most horrible news I’ve ever heard.”
‘The only way out was through the window, or die’
The blaze was sparked by a faulty lithium-ion battery from an e-bike, producing the pungent ‘very strong nail varnish’-like odour that Cheryl detected. The chemical stench had spread ‘through the whole house’, before the bike detonated ‘like fireworks’.
Cheryl’s motherly instincts immediately took over and she rushed to collect 10 year old Karim, before ‘dashing into the garden’. It was then they discovered ‘Che wasn’t there, and she was screaming but firefighters wouldn’t let her back in’.
Debbie said: “Che came out of his room, but said he saw the flames climbing up the ceiling and the walls so he couldn’t get downstairs. He said the fire spread so fast and he’d only fires like it on TV. The only way out was through the window, or die. He landed on his knees.”
The horrified mum discovered that the flames moved so rapidly because there was no door separating the living room from the rest of the property. After the bike detonated “flames went straight onto the curtains, the sofa, which caught alight straight away and then spread up the walls and across the ceiling,” said Debbie.
She revealed that a firefighter informed Cheryl that if there had been a door between her living room and the hallway the inferno would have been contained ‘for a least 20 minutes’.
Making matters even worse, Debbie says the gas pipes were located beneath the front door, so when the fire reached the hallway the house exploded.
‘It was her birthday on Monday, all she wanted was a house’
Debbie has been by Cheryl’s side ‘continuously’ since the terrifying incident. She revealed that Cheryl tends to keep her emotions bottled up, but on her birthday, Monday (October 20), she couldn’t hold back her tears.
Debbie shared: “I’ve been with her continuously, she won’t let me go. My sisters will just keep everything in but it was her birthday on Monday and I asked ‘what do you want for your birthday?’. She said ‘a house Debbie’ and just broke down.”
According to Debbie, Cheryl is utterly ‘devastated’ and is ‘holding everything in’. “She’s devastated of course, she’s sunk, she’s sitting there and she’ll hold everything in. Cheryl doesn’t want to talk to anyone, and loads of people want to talk to her, but she said, ‘I don’t mean to be horrible, but I can’t talk to anyone. I can’t relive it’. It’s my little sister, and it’s just so not nice to sit and watch her slowly go.”
Cheryl and her children receive free breakfast and supper at their temporary accommodation, but they are dependent on the ‘amazing’ generosity of the local community.
Speaking to MyLondon, Debbie said: “Everyone’s been stepping up and giving her clothes, shoes, just everything that she needs to get her through this tough time. So many people gave so many clothes and that it’s been absolutely amazing. To put it out there the people of Mitcham are absolutely beautiful.
“I absolutely love it. It’s been lovely and the community has been absolutely amazing. It really is lovely. I mean, so it’s, you know, delighted. All they [Cheryl’s family] had was the clothes on their back.”
AFC Wimbledon has also played a major part in helping Cheryl’s family back on their feet. They have donated five beds and mattresses.
Despite knowing Cheryl’s life has been torn apart, older sister Debbie is incredibly relieved that the family escaped with their lives. She said: “It’s just a blessing that she she and her children got out alive. I love this girl more than life, and she knows I’ll do anything for her. I’m leacing her side until she’s 100 per cent all good.”
A fundraiser has been set-up to help Cheryl and her family. You can donate to it here.