A MOTHER and her young children had a lucky escape when their washing machine burst into flames.

Mother of two Ruth Leighton rushed from the house with her three-year-old son Jack and five-week old baby Evie as the machine and work top went up in flames.

Two fire crews were called to the blaze at Maes Madoc, Acrefair, at 8am yesterday.

Mrs Leighton said she was going through her normal morning routine while husband John was at work.

She had just got out of the shower, had loaded the washing machine and was getting Jack ready for nursery school when she smelt burning from downstairs.

“I put the washing on and went upstairs to sort the kids out,” she said, “When I was upstairs I smelt smoke. I went down and the washing machine was on fire.

“I grabbed the kids, the dog and the phone and phoned the fire service as I was piling them out of the door.”

She rushed across the road to the house of John’s aunt Mavis.

She said: “Ruth came over with the baby and Jack shouting that her washing machine was on fire. She hammered on the door. She left the children and then ran back. I her told her not to go back - by then the house at the back was ablaze.”

Mavis’ daughter Emma Davies then joined Ruth and the fire crews arrived.

“She was very lucky that she smelt the smoke,” Mavis added.

Mrs Leighton, a staff nurse at Wrexham Maelor Hospital, then called her husband, also 33, who was at work at Microtech in Bersham.

Mr Leighton said: “I’m gutted. The mess is unreal, I can’t believe it’s going to be a mess for weeks now. The ceiling and carpets are blackened, there’s dust upstairs and the clothes in the wardrobe stink. I just hope the insurance covers it and it doesn’t hit us in the pocket.”

He said the washing machine, fridge and work surfaces sustained the most damaged, but the semi-detached two-bedroom house needed industrial cleaning.

“It was just the kitchen but the smoke damage is to the whole of the downstairs,” he added.

Fire officers at the scene said they had found the top of the washing machine flaming. They said the fire was caused by an electrical fault with the machine.