A mum has praised her neighbours after she "lost everything" in a devastating fire that ripped through her family home.
As the rain drizzled down on a quiet residential road in West Derby, Merseyside Police and Merseyside Fire and Rescue continued to work on the burnt-out remains of Toni Shield's home. The mum-of-two was forced to stay at her mum's home before returning to the street where her home resides after neighbours called her to tell her a blaze had broken out.
The 35-year-old had gone out with her friends last night (Wednesday, December 21) when her phone blew up with phone calls from frantic neighbours as flames could be seen roaring from the terraced house on Craigside Avenue. The mum rushed home to find her home nothing more than a burnt-out scene with Merseyside Police officers cordoning off the road.
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Merseyside Fire and Rescue received a 999 call at 7.48pm from people on the street to say Toni's home, where she lives with her two children aged five and 11, was on fire. Three fire engines arrived five minutes later and firefighters found the ground floor of a property was well alight.
Speaking to the ECHO, sitting in the living room of the house across the road from her family home, Toni told of the devastation the blaze has caused just days before Christmas. She said: "We've lost everything. I left the bags with all the presents on the couch at home because I was in a rush. That's where it looks like the fire has come from."
As Toni spoke to the ECHO, emergency services continued to work on the house before allowing her in for the first time. When approached for an update MFRS confirmed that the investigation remains ongoing as to what the cause of the fire was.
Since the fire, Toni's family, friends and neighbours have all come together to help her. While sitting on her neighbour's couch, glancing at what is left of her home, her phone continued to buzz and ring as people offered ways to help and wished her well during the traumatic time.
Toni added: "The police and fire service are there now and I'm just sat here looking at my house. I'm just devastated. I've got nothing, I've lost my home. We could have been dead. We could have been in there, luckily we weren't."
Now a GoFundMe has been set up to help Toni and her two children aged five and 11 with the family not having home insurance. Speaking about the fundraiser she said: "I weren't expecting anyone to do that [set up the GoFundMe] but my friends have done it.
"I don't expect nothing, I just want my home back basically. I can't really say anything because there's nothing to say, I'm just devastated.
"Every neighbour on my street rang my phone, it went mental and I just thought 'why is everyone ringing me? I don't understand'. Then to find out I've lost my home is the worst thing ever. I've got good neighbours and I've got good family. Everyone's caring about us."
To donate to Toni's cause, click here.
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