Mum Alicia Murphy, 22, bravely jumped from the window of the second-floor bedroom with her baby Alec in her arms after a huge fire spread through the family home in Cardiff
A brave mum has described the moment she leapt out of her bedroom window holding her baby in her arms as a blaze tore through the family home.
Alicia Murphy, 22, and her boyfriend Jordan Payne, 27 were fast asleep with their newborn baby Alec Murphy-Payne at her mum’s house in Cardiff when they were suddenly awoken by her mother and brother’s screams for help. They soon found out that a fire had started on the floor below them, and was quickly spreading through the entire property, threatening the lives of all seven people staying there that night. It included her mum Charlotte, her sister Hana Bedford, and her brothers Ryan and Leo, who were sleeping downstairs.
It was a family member’s dog who first alerted them to the blaze – and after waking up to the sound of screaming, Alicia’s thoughts immediately turned to keeping her baby safe.
She told Wales Online: “I was woken up to my mum and brother screaming for my boyfriend.
“We didn’t know it was a fire at first and then my boyfriend opened the bedroom door and loads of black smoke came in and obviously we all panicked. Me and my boyfriend screamed at each other to get the baby so we managed to get him from his cot.
“We rushed to the window and I hung out the window as much as I could with the baby in my arms but obviously because the window was open that’s where all the smoke was going to escape.”
“Because there was so much smoke coming towards us I tried to shout twice but I knew I was going to inhale too much smoke and that was the worst decision I could make. So I then just had to make the quick instinctive choice to jump out the window with the baby in my arm.
“It was the upstairs bedroom window and my partner managed to get out of the window after me. I don’t know too much of what went on after that because I ended up going to my neighbours to try and get some clothes. So I don’t know what happened with the rest of my family after that.”
Fortunately, Alicia – who is currently expecting another child – landed in a way that did not affect her unborn baby, and her latest scans show the pregnancy is progressing normally. However, she and her brother did sustain some injuries.
Her family told her that after jumping out of the house, Jordan and one of her brothers went back inside to help her mother escape through her bedroom window.
Alicia’s sister panicked and went into her bedroom for safety, while one of her brothers jumped out of another window on the top floor. Her boyfriend Jordan was severely injured, as he had tried to help family members by running through the fire.
Describing the injuries the family sustained, Alicia said: “I had a burnt hand and a burnt ear. My mum had a broken toe.
“My sister was also sedated, I think it was just over a week, because she had a blockage on her lung because she was in there for so long screaming for help.
“She also broke her finger and had some minor burns on her hand. The baby had a lump on his face with a bruise and a scratch, and obviously my partner then was very severe because he went through the fire itself.
“He had 72% burns and he had a fractured wrist as we’ve recently found out as well but he was put into a coma for quite a few weeks as well. He’s only just come round.”
The family were taken to the University Hospital of Wales in Heath for treatment, and are still trying to come to terms with the impact of the fire. They’ve lost a number of sentimental items, including “all our family photos”, and the ashes of her late stepdad.
Alicia is being housed in a Holiday Inn as council-provided accommodation, but says she constantly on edge due to frequent fire alarms and people attempting to walk in to her room while at the hotel.
The move has been particularly hard for 10-month-old baby Alec, who she says has been “unsettled” since moving in. She explained: “He’s struggling a lot with settling because obviously the place we’ve been put in is not very nice. He’s constantly being disturbed with the young children that are being really loud, screaming, running up and down the corridors constantly.
“They bang on our door, they try and get in our room. So he’s always being unsettled. He’s struggling with a lot of his sleep and he’s being startled constantly – especially with the fire alarms that go off. They’re panicking him too.”
“It’s just hard knowing that my babies, and obviously my partner with what he’s been through, we still don’t have a home to be able to settle into.”
“I can’t prepare for my newborn child that I’m about to have in a few months because I have no way to be able to put anything for this new child. We’re in a tiny little hotel room. I can’t prepare for another baby in there either.”
Alicia has since accepted an offer to stay in alternative temporary accommodation at one of the council’s family supported accommodation units.