A mum-of-three was left devastated after a fire caused by an e-bike battery ripped through her kitchen. <br /><br />Jess Hooley, 28, took her three children, aged 13, nine and four, out for lunch on March 8 - and says she was away for “an hour-and-a-half, tops” before returning. <br /><br />Her eldest’s e-bike battery was left charging on her kitchen counter - and when the family came home, they found their kitchen "burned from the inside-out." <br /><br />Now, Jess, who cares for her disabled son full-time, is spending every penny she has on home repairs - and has spent £300 so far on new kitchenware, due to not having home insurance. <br /><br />The family are living upstairs in the house, in one bedroom, in the meantime.<br /><br />She hopes to raise enough money to revamp the downstairs of her house - cleaning the smoke damage, replacing the floor and making it a safe, liveable space again. <br /><br />Jess, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, said: “I’ve been crying every day - I’m buying everything myself. We’re trying so hard. <br /><br />“It’s like a hotel in one bedroom at the moment - it’s so cramped. <br /><br />“But if it wasn’t for the donations we’ve received so far, we’d still be living in my mum’s caravan.”<br /><br />On March 8, Jess took her three children out to lunch, and left her son’s Revvi e-bike on charge unattended. <br /><br />She says the instructions said batteries had a maximum of six hours charging time - and she thought it would be safe to leave it for “less than two hours.”<br /><br />But at 2pm, when she returned, she saw the house destroyed - and firefighters inside, trying to tackle the blaze. <br /><br />Her neighbour had raised the alarm after “smelling burnt bacon” - and looked out the window to find black smoke coming out of the window. <br /><br />“It was just a freak accident, the lithium battery must’ve exploded,” Jess added. <br /><br />“If my neighbour hadn’t heard the smoke detector and called the fire brigade, the house would’ve just basically exploded.”<br /><br />Family dog, one-year-old American bulldog Daley, was treated on the scene for smoke inhalation, but is now fine. <br /><br />The downstairs of Jess' home was left in a state of disrepair, with severe smoke damage to the walls, counters and floor. <br /><br />Her appliances were covered in soot, and she was advised to get rid of them, because she risked electrocution by plugging them back in. <br /><br />The family temporarily moved to Bridlington, east Yorkshire, to live in a caravan while local authorities fixed her kitchen cupboards, countertops and wall tiles.
