Horrified mum scrambles to save her two kids as baby monitor explodes in Rugby home

A horrified mum has told how she saved her two children after a baby monitor exploded in her home.

Shannon Makepeace, 31, was baking cakes when her Hello Baby monitor, which was on the kitchen counter, started 'hissing' and smoking. Using her mother's instincts, she rushed to grab one-year-old daughter Bonnie, who was asleep upstairs, as well as her son Joey, 3, and dashed outside their home in Rugby.

Meanwhile her mum Carmen, 51, smothered the burning device in a towel and threw it outside.

The fire broke out on August 1, just two weeks after Shannon purchased the monitor for £39.99 from Amazon. just two

Shannon says if the monitor had exploded while the family were asleep, the outcome could have been tragic and described it as a "terrifying experience".

She said: "The monitor was in the kitchen. It had fallen forwards by itself and was making a sort of hissing noise. Smoke was coming out of it really fast and filled the downstairs of my house within seconds. It smelled absolutely awful.

“It just happened really fast, it was like a whistling kettle. I told my mum the monitor was on fire and I thought it might really explode like you see electric bikes sometimes do.

Shannon continued: “The kitchen was completely filled with smoke and it was filled with a smell of burning plastic. My mum quickly wrapped the burning monitor in a towel and chucked it in the garden.”

In the wake of the fire, the kitchen was left scorched and photos provided by the family show the melted remains of the monitor.

Shannon has complained to Hello Baby - the manufacturers of the device - and they only offered to refund her the money.

“The monitor burned my kitchen worktop and would no doubt have caused a serious fire had the circumstances been different," she explained, "We emailed the company and they replied with a very non sympathetic offer of a refund and ‘sorry for the inconvenience.

“It looks like the battery exploded in it. We emailed the company and explained what had happened. The first email was that they wanted the Amazon number and to offer a refund.

“They sent me back some certificates from testing saying it theoretically shouldn’t happen. I was there and I saw it so we could take action quickly. We used that monitor every night and asleep. It's often on a carpet.

“We're unlucky that it happened but lucky it happened when and where it did. It burnt the kitchen worktop where it was. The danger was had I not been in there it would have escalated into a fire very quickly.”

Shannon’s mum Carmen said: “We believe the battery exploded. It was in use but not plugged into the mains. Luckily Shannon heard it bang and we were able to get the burning unit out of the house after only a few seconds.

“The whole downstairs filled with awful, acrid smoke. It was so scary but we feel lucky. The situation could’ve been a lot worse.”

NationalWorld has reached out to Hello Baby for comment on the situation and are awaiting a response.