QUICK-thinking dad-of-three Neil Snedker rescued his daughter from a blazing bedroom after a candle set the ceiling on fire.

He and his wife Julia, 33, of Cumberford Hill, Bloxham, near Banbury, have now sent out a warning to other parents to be very careful after they and their children came close to death.

They also warned people to make sure their smoke detectors were working as the family had one but had disconnected it while cooking and forgotten to slide the battery back in.

Mrs Snedker said: "Everything else you can replace but not a life."

Three-year-old Maria, who celebrated her birthday on Saturday, raised the alarm when she screamed out just after 4am yesterday. All her toys, books and clothes were ruined in the fire.

Mr and Mrs Snedker put their daughter, who is afraid of the dark, to bed the evening before with a night light on the wardrobe after nearly 2,000 houses suffered a power cut at 9.30pm following an underground cable fault.

Mrs Snedker rushed out of bed, and screamed when she saw the flames flickering in the bedroom and alerted her husband. Her husband ran naked into the room, fighting his way through the thick black smoke and grabbed his daughter off the bed before dialling 999. throwing wet towels at the flames, closing the door and placing wet towels around the edges.

Mr Snedker, 38, who works as a chartered accountant from home, said: "I just dived into the bedroom. I couldn't see her and all I could do was hear her screaming from the doorway. The heat and the smoke were just immense.

"I ran towards the bed and grasped what I could then dashed out. All my hair was singed and stuck together just because of the heat. I don't know how she coped and is still alive."

"Every time I went back I had to hang my head out of the window to get air as I couldn't breath."

His wife had taken great care to put the candle in a safe place where Maria, who normally has a low wattage bulb on in her room, could not play with it and did not think it would reach the ceiling 18 inches above.

"I'm delighted that it's ended the way it has. Thank God I didn't have the sense to think, I just went in."

"The guilt you feel for putting a night light in a room - it could kill your whole family. We thought we were doing the right thing. It didn't seem dangerous but you learn by your mistakes."

The family which includes Oliver, eight, and Amy, one, were all looked after by paramedics after suffering smoke inhalation and Mr Snedker and Maria were allowed home after tests at the Horton Hospital in Banbury.

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