This is what was left the day after a fire started in the attic of my tenement.

On Thursday the 23rd of April I was working from home. My letting agent had made arrangements with Jim a painter-decorator to come and repair a water mark on my ceiling. He had been round to assess the damage a few weeks prior and was going to look around the attic to establish what may have caused the leak.

He arrived with his colleague at 10.50am and as I had a meeting at 12pm in the city centre left shortly after their arrival; they said they’d post the key through my letterbox once they were finished.

At 2.30pm I arrived back to the flat and sat down to work. It wasn’t too long after that I heard some unfamiliar noises from above. Then came the first of a series of loud thumps which prompted me to comment with concern on my twitter page.

Just after 7pm I called Jim to ask him for advice to which he acted dismissive and told me to ’sleep on it’. I did until 5am…

I woke to the sound of what I could only describe as torrential rain on the ceiling. I immediately text Jim and then called my letting agent, who did the best he could to calm me down at such an early hour and urged me back to sleep. At that moment I was convinced that water was going to pour through into the flat. Confused, I used my camera to record the sound and kept watching the water mark waiting to see signs of a leakage.

I then phoned my father and while explaining the situation watched as the ceiling began to bevel and a small black spot start to spread, I hung up, pulled the sockets out the wall and pushed all my furniture to one side of the room. At that point my neighbour woken by the sound of me moving things around came to the door. She said she could smell burning. In my panic I hadn’t even noticed that the flat was full of smoke- and that’s when I realised it was a fire I could hear.

She ran off down the stairs to call the firebrigade and I rushed into the living room in time to see flames lick through a hole in the ceiling. I grabbed Albie (my rabbit) and my laptop pulled the door shut and thumped on my neighbours door as I made my out. I threw both in the car and ran back upstairs. My neighbour was shouting about finding the key for the attic and I began to frantically rake through a box in my bedroom until I realised this was pointless, shoved my purse in my dressing gown pocket and ran back down the stairs just as the fire crew were making their way in.

Out in the street I could see the flames and smoke billowing from the roof. I was terrified. As I stood there I could hear a familiar sound as my house phone rang in my pocket. My Mum had left an answer machine message and my Dad was on his way.

The following days were a blur and as yet the Fire Report has not been issued, but the Incident Crew were, in my mind, quick to rule out an electrical fault and suggested that a careless cigarette dropped on the rolls of carpet stored in the attic could have smouldered over a prolonged period of time before taking hold. I have still had no response from Jim.

I’d like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their support including my parents, friends and family. Also, a special thanks has to go to Strathclyde Fire & Rescue who not only responded quickly but went above and beyond saving my personal belongings. Even in the midst of the incident they managed to move all my furniture, pulled my documents drawer and clothes out and dragged my dollshouse into the bathroom. I am yet to come up with a suitable way to express my appreciation, but hope for a gesture to match my gratitude.