A HOARDER from Cam has vowed to change her ways after narrowly surviving a fire.

Sandra Smith returned from visiting a neighbour in The Croft, Cam, to find her home ablaze.

Having rushed into the house to rescue her dog, she struggled to escape through the thick smoke.

She spent six days in hospital, and now suffers permanent damage to her lungs, nose and throat as a result of the smoke she inhaled.

“It was just like night time, I couldn’t see a thing and I didn’t know where the door was,” she said.

“All I could think of was my dog who was in the kitchen. I should have waited for the fire service to rescue him, but I rushed straight in.”

The cause of the fire was a laundry basket on the cooker. Sandra had not turned it on, but thinks she could have knocked the dial by accident. The fire was so intense that it melted the cooker and microwave.

Sandra’s neighbours assisted with the clean-up and cooked meals for Sandra and her son until her cooker was replaced.

Having realised her hoarding was out of control, Sandra has now go got rid of many of her possessions.

“I had furniture everywhere filled with ornaments, artificial flowers, books and so many lights that there were more than ten extension leads in my lounge alone,” she said.

“If the fire had happened while I was asleep I’d never have got out alive. That thought really shocked me. I had so many things that I blocked up the back door, that could have been my only escape route.”

Sandra has filled two skips with smoke damaged furniture, furnishings and ornaments and gave what was salvageable to charity shops.

She now keeps a small number of favourite ornaments in one cabinet and has promised not to fall into her old habits.