A YOUNG family has been left homeless “for months” after a hoverboard burst into flames.

Mother-of-four Tammy Humphreys, 29, was left heartbroken after her Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd property on the Pensyflog estate in Porthmadog was ravaged by fire and smoke, leaving the property uninhabitable.

Fortunately, nobody was injured in the blaze, which took place Saturday morning (24 March), after the hoverboard, which was a Christmas present to one of her children, caught fire as it was charging in the hallway.

Her children – Nancy, 3; Jay, 6; Ronnie, 8; and Seren, 11 – are currently staying with family members nearby but are distraught to lose their precious toys and a bedroom her eldest daughter was “obsessed with”.

Sadly, Tammy did not have house insurance so many of her belongings will have to be paid for out of her own pocket.

Fire crews from Harlech and Blaenau Ffestiniog had to attend as there were not enough retained firefighters available in Porthmadog for a call out.

During the 30 minutes it took for fire crews to attend, acrid smoke filled the house, encasing the family’s possessions in thick soot.

“The hoverboard set alight, my daughter saw it spitting sparks and flames,” recalled Tammy.

"I was outside but couldn’t get in, I could see smoke rising and the smell was terrible. The fire was pretty contained in the hallway but the plastic and lithium battery in the hoverboard created a lot of smoke.

“My eldest daughter is heartbroken, her bedroom was her pride and joy, nobody was allowed in there apart from her after it was recently redecorated and now it’s all ruined.

“Luckily everyone was able to get out quickly. The fire had blocked the stairs so god knows what would have happened if somebody was up in their room.”

The 29-year-old believes that had the firefighters in Porthmadog been available the damage might have been less severe.

“It is a problem around here, it has been for a while,” said Tammy.

“I’m not criticising the firefighters at all; they did all they could. It’s just a shame there wasn’t a full complement of staff available in Porthmadog as the station is only five minutes away.

“If they’d got here sooner, there’d be a lot less smoke damage I would imagine.

“The fireman I spoke to, and the CCG representative, said it was the worst smoke damage they had every seen.

“They said they’ll have to change the locks because they weren’t able to find the house keys amongst all the ash and soot.”

The young mother added the family had been left with nothing, and would have to start again from scratch to replace their belongings. Dozens of people have got in touch with Miss Humphreys to donate clothes and other items, with others giving her money as the family try to find their feet again.

She said: “People are coming and knocking on the door all the time giving us things. It is a nice thing to come out of this and I want to say thank you to everybody that has helped us, some people I have never even met before.”

Stuart Millington, senior operations manager for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said: “I would like to take this opportunity to reassure the residents of north Wales that we always seek to provide the highest level of service.

“Porthmadog is crewed by Retained Duty System (RDS) or ‘on call’ firefighters.

“These firefighters respond to incidents via alerters and mostly have other primary employment elsewhere.

“We have for many years had difficulty recruiting firefighters at Porthmadog Fire Station which is why we had already been actively seeking applications from people interested in joining the service to undertake this important work.

"In fact, there are applicants for Porthmadog currently in the process of undergoing the relevant test to join NWFRS.”

A gofundme page has been set up for Tammy and her family which has already raised over £600.

For more information, or to donate, please visit www.gofundme.com/h7j6th-help-tammy-after-the-house-fire