A mum-of-three thought she would be watching her house burn down on Christmas Day if it wasn’t for a fire blanket.

Lyndsey Wilson, from Oare in Faversham, was cooking a roast dinner for her family when her gas oven suddenly caught ablaze.

She said: “I just stood there – you kind of freeze and think, what do I do? I turned the oven off and told my daughter to phone 999.

“In my mind, I thought even if we get it under control, you don't know if there's something smouldering away.

“It was so quick. There were flames and smoke within minutes. Almost instantly the kitchen was covered in black soot.

“My son-in-law poured water down the back but there were still flames.”

However, it was the fire blanket that Lyndsey had in the house that saved the day.

Her husband, Scott, immediately grabbed it from the wall and pushed it into the oven.

Lyndsey had been finishing the preparations for her Christmas dinner at around 3pm, when she decided to cook some Yorkshire puddings.

Using the top section of her gas oven, she turned it on – not realising a grill handle had fallen down the back.

“I had double-checked, but within a couple of minutes I thought I could smell plastic,” the 47-year-old added.

“I went to open the door, then all of a sudden it went whoosh and there was a fire.

“Then it was just panic. I thought I was going to watch my house burn down on Christmas Day.”

Lyndsey had bought a pack of two fire blankets off of Amazon for £14.99 around two years ago.

At the time, the mum-of-three had spotted an advert on Facebook promoting the safety item.

She said: “My elderly dad lives with me and I use a lot of candles. I always think ‘what if?’

“You believe ‘it's never going to happen to me’ but it certainly can.”

A fire engine arrived and crews at the scene gave the family the all-clear.

Lyndsey managed to salvage their Christmas dinner – although it was an hour and a half later than expected.

She then posted a warning on social media, urging people to have a fire blanket in their homes.

Since then, close friends, relatives and neighbours, have told her they will be buying one.

The post was also shared by Kent Fire and Rescue Service, who said: “Here's one of the Christmas dinner incidents our Faversham crew attended yesterday.

“Luckily there were no injuries and the damage was minimal, but it did mean that their Christmas dinner was delayed!

“If you do have a fire in your home, we ask that you please get out if it is safe to do so, stay out and call 999.”