A mum told of the terrifying moment she leapt from her bedroom window to save herself from a huge house fire where several animals died.

The woman, whose Deal home went up in flames at about 7.30pm on Saturday, has also sounded the alarm after discovering the cause is believed to be an air fryer.

Describing how smoke filled her bedroom while explosions could be heard on the floor below, she said: “I sat on my bed and started eating when I smelt something and could sense something.

“I looked up and could see the smoke in my bedroom and I could hear something happening.

“I got up and then the smoke alarms went off and it caused the animals to panic, I tried to grab them but as I did there was an explosion in the kitchen and this thick, black, hot smoke just bellowed up the stairways.

“I was trying to find the animals and I was calling them except the smoke was so dark and I couldn't see.

“It was burning my throat and I realised that I had to save myself – I could hear things popping and cracking.

“My neighbour opened my front door and was calling my name but it just made loads more smoke and I couldn’t breathe. I just thought I’ve got to get out”.

She then searched for her phone to dial 999 and several neighbours had run over to her property in a bid to help.

Several pets were still inside; two dogs, four cats, a house rabbit, and four guinea pigs were inside the property.

As four fire engines were scrambled to her home in Fairway the inferno’s heat had become almost unbearable.

“I opened my window and was trying to dial 999 and shouting for help,” she added.

“My neighbours were coming running across the field and I tried to shut my bedroom door but I couldn’t because it was too hot.

“I climbed out on the windowsill and it was getting so hot that I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t see.

“I just jumped because it was too hot.”

She suffered a broken foot, is now homeless and has lost all her possessions.

“I’ve lost everything – all my memories, my daughter’s memories, her baby teeth – these are things I’ll never be able to replace,” she said.

“Luckily my daughter was not there when it happened but if she had been, I don’t think I would have been able to get to her.”

She continued: “I didn't have much of a choice but to jump out of the window, it was either fall from burning or die in the house from smoke inhalation or risk whatever damage I was going to do to myself by jumping out the window.”

Once she got outside, she said she tried to save her animals again but was carried away from the fire by a neighbour.

She said: “I tried to open my back door to save my animals and my neighbours tried to hold me back and I knew my foot was broken but I didn’t care – I wanted to save my animals.

“One of my neighbours carried me away from the house because I was screaming. My neighbours were a wonderful help.”

Speaking of her heartache after losing her pets she added she had applied for her dog to become a therapy dog because of how good she was.

The fire sadly led to the loss of two dogs, a house rabbit, a kitten and two guinea pigs. Two more guinea pigs, two cats and a kitten survived.

After finding out the air fryer, which was brand new, is allegedly what caused the fire, the Deal resident wants to make sure it does not happen to anyone else as she knows other people were given the same appliance at the food bank.

Having turned the gadget off after using it to cook, she went upstairs with her pets to eat, and moments later her world turned upside down.

The blaze was put out by firefighters by 9.30pm.

She told KentOnline a donated air fryer is believed to be the cause of the inferno and warned people to be cautious.