Red Rock actor and musician Steven Mangan has warned people never to leave their chargers plugged in after a charging phone led to his home being destroyed in a devastating fire.
The actor returned to his Darndale, north Dublin home last Wednesday to find his fire alarm ringing.
Upon opening his front door, he was met with thick black smoke and called 999 immediately.
The fire caused extensive damage to Steven's home and caused the roof of his newly refurbished kitchen to cave in, along with significant damage to his 12-year-old daughter's room.
Emergency services initially thought a plugged in hair straightener may have caused the fire, but after a forensic investigation, it was found that a mobile phone left charging in Steven's daughter Saoirse's room was the cause.
Speaking to the Irish Sun, Steven said: "I came home for some lunch last week at about 12.30pm, and the alarm was going off.
"We recently had it resealed so you couldn't see any smoke from the outside. Then you opened the door and you were just met by all the smoke.
"It's probably just as well as I came home when I did but there were proper flames coming from Saoirse's room. But the smoke has caused damage throughout the house."
Steven said Dublin Fire Brigade responded quickly to the call, but after putting the flames out, the water caused the floor to cave in on the kitchen.
The actor said he was in "limbo" as they did not have insurance on the house and would have to "just wait and see".
He said: "We're waiting for a structural engineer to come out to see it but everything's destroyed. And the heat it caused was so intense, glass bottles of nail varnish melted with it."
Friends of the family have set up a GoFundMe page for Steven and his wife Sinead as they try to recover from the loss of the items they lost in the fire and the damage it caused to their home.
The page reads: "My friend freelance musician Steven Mangan and his wife Sinéads home sadly went on fire recently.
"Forensic investigators have deemed the cause of the fire a mobile phone which had been charging on their daughters bed.
"Thankfully no one was at home at the time of the incident but their beautiful house was badly damaged. Everything they owned was lost.
"Unfortunately their insurance had overlapped by a number of days which means they cannot claim on it to try refurbish their home.
"I'm asking if at all possible could you help them in anyway in this genuine appeal in these uncertain times. Many thanks for taking the time to read this."
