Joanne Rees, a mother-of-two and taxi firm worker from Clase, Swansea had spent the afternoon packing for her first ever holiday with her family on a sunny day on Monday, April 25, this year. Putting new summer clothes in a suitcase for her herself, her husband and two young children, Thomas Rees and Cadi-Lynn Rees, she was getting excited for a trip to Newquay and the chance to get away from it all for a week.
The windows and doors of her home were open to let in a breeze and her children played in their separate bedrooms upstairs. Sadly, Joanne was blissfully unaware of the tragedy that was about to strike. At around 5pm, when the 35-year-old mother was downstairs, her eight-year-old daughter ran into the kitchen looking distressed and shouted something straight out of a mother's worst nightmare: "Thomas has set his bedroom on fire."
When Joanne ran upstairs to find her little boy, the four-year-old was stood frozen in shock staring at his blanket which was engulfed in flames. Grabbing her son and daughter and running out of the house, Joanne got her kids outside and called 999. Joanne's four-year-old chocolate labrador was still inside and she needed to get back in and save him from the already spreading fire. You can get more Swansea news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
