Family's phone charger warning after little Donegal boy sustains burns in fire

Ryan McCauley and his wife, Nicola, told how young Donnacha was saved by his big brother Dualtach, who saw flames and pulled the little boy from his bed.

Donnacha sustained burns to his head, hand, toes and leg and is now recovering at home.

On a post on Facebook, which the family gave the Journal permission to share, in the hope it would raise awareness, the couple told how they put Donnacha to bed ‘as usual’ and he was followed by Dualtach at 11.30pm, when ‘all was fine’.

"I was just getting into bed at 12.05 when I heard a scream and then Dualtach shouted my name, he woke up when Donnacha cried and seen flames, so jumped from top bunk and pulled Donnacha out of the bottom bunk bed that was on fire.”

Nicola met both boys in the hall and ‘screamed to get the rest of the house up and out’ and Ryan ‘started pouring water’ on the fire.

The family had a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and in the 30 seconds it took to retrieve it, the room was ‘filled with smoke and flames,’ which were getting bigger. They managed to extinguish the fire and rushed Donnacha to A&E.

They commended the staff on duty for their exceptional care.“He has burns to his head, hand, toes, and leg but thankfully nothing to bad and he is now home and lapping up the attention. His mattress duvet sheet etc where all destroyed.”

The family saw the cause of the fire was a ‘genuine charger, not a cheap one’ that was plugged into the wall ‘not into the tablet.’ They believe it ‘must have overheated. and the mattress caught fire.’

They added that family members ‘must have been looking down on us, as when you see the damage to his jammies, duvet and mattress, he’s lucky to be here and thank God Dualtach woke and had the sense to save his wee brother or it could be a far worse outcome.”They urged everyone to ‘please keep the charger off when not in use.’