'One stray firework and they lost everything'

A woman whose parents' house was destroyed when an industrial firework landed in their back garden has warned people about the "lifelong suffering" misusing them can cause.

Olivia Devine said her parents were getting ready to go to bed on Bonfire Night, 5 November, last year when they heard a "big bang" and got up to see that their outdoor furniture had caught fire.

Ms Devine said the flames quickly spread and engulfed her family home in Kirkby, Knowsley, within minutes, despite the efforts of her dad and the local firefighters to save it.

She said her parents were forced to flee the house because of the smoke and were left with nothing but "the pyjamas on their backs".

Ms Devine said: "They brought their kids up there, their grandkids.

"They've lost their parents' ashes, all our little childhood memory boxes - all those things you can never ever replace."

Ms Devine said she was grateful her parents were not hurt in the blaze.

"If that would have been half an hour later, when they were in bed fast asleep, would they have heard the bang? Would they have known?" she said.

"It could have been a completely different story."

She said an investigation by Merseyside Fire & Rescue found the fire had been caused by an industrial firework set off nearby, landing on their outdoor furniture and exploding.

"The chemicals and the powders within that firework explained the ferocity and the speed of the blaze," she said.

"The message we want to get out there is you might think you're being safe setting these fireworks off, but they're that powerful. You have no control over where they go.

"Especially industrial ones, they're not for garden use at all - they're for professional use only."

Ms Devine added the incident had been incredibly traumatic for her family, with her parents still living in temporary accommodation almost a year later while they finished rebuilding their home.

She said fireworks "give that fear - the smell of smoke, it's like a haunting smell, you'll never get out your nostrils".

"Those things take you back to that moment, and they're things that you're just going to have to live with forever now."

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