Mother's painful memory of burned daughter's screams

Although Ashling Doyle is now a happy seven-year-old who enjoys dancing and sports, her mother Karen Doyle says she does not want any other families to go through the same ordeal.

She is urging people to be more fire-aware and has issued a warning to others about open fires, as health bosses revealed the number of accidents in the home rises over the festive period.

It was just before Ashling's fourth birthday in 2010 when she had returned from a day out and was standing near to the fire.

A keen dance fan, the youngster was jigging around when her denim mix outfit caught light.

Ashling, who attends Birches First School in Codsall, was left with serious burns to the bottom half of her body and spent eight weeks in hospital.

Her mother Karen, aged 42, said: "What happened to Ashling changed our little world.

"She had come back from a day out with her father and she was really happy. These kind of things have a tendency to happen when life is good.

"She was cold though so she was warming up near the fire and was dancing away.

"She got too close and the skirt she was wearing caught fire.

"She just ran to me in a massive ball of flames.

"The sound of the screaming is something that will never go away."

In the moments that followed, Karen tried to take the burning clothes off her daughter and ran to get help.

Paramedics, who Karen says are 'unsung heroes', were quick to arrive and the youngster was taken to Birmingham Children's Hospital where she had a series of skin grafts. "We are so lucky to have somewhere like the specialist burns unit at Birmingham Children's Hospital," said Karen.

"It's a little gem. Everyone there and everyone who helped us was brilliant."

Although Ashling may have to have skin grafts in the future, she does not let what happened to her get in the way of enjoying life.

She is a keen dancer and recently performed on the stage at Wolverhampton's Grand Theatre in the Carol Sutti Dance Show.

"A couple of years on from it now and she is just unbelievable," said Karen, who lives with partner Philip Turner, aged 44, in Codsall, and also has a stepdaughter Georgie, aged 17.

"She's fine. I still get flashbacks all the time.

"There doesn't have to be a trigger, it can just be a tail-light on a car or something and I can just picture her on fire.

"I don't want other families to go through the same thing so I would just urge them to think carefully about open fires and where they put candles, especially at Christmas time. Nurses have told us they do see extra injuries at this time of year. Everyone's excited, children are running around and there's just generally a lot more excitement around."

Claire Thomas, from Birmingham Children's Hospital's burns unit, said: "Unfortunately at this time of year, we do get a lot of little girls coming in with injuries like this, especially with party dresses on and princess dresses.

"Any type of fire, not just open fires but gas fires can be a danger and can lead to this sort of accident."