Fire-starting hamster wrecks family home

A RESTLESS hamster has made its two owners, Tracey Hill and her son Kae, homeless after it started a blaze in their family residence.

His constant running caused his cage to move towards the buttons on the hob of an electric cooker, which then caught fire.

Noisy hamster Pebbles had been keeping Tracey up at night, so she had moved the rodent into the kitchen and placed him on top of the electric cooker to prevent her two dogs from reaching him.

The fire caused £20,000 of damage to the home, as well as claiming the lives of both Pebbles and three of Tracey’s other pets – two dogs, Poppy and Twiggy, and a pet chinchilla.

Fortunately Tracey and Kae managed to flee to safety after hearing their smoke alarm, but the semi-detached home in Bletchley, Bucks has been so substantially damaged that they cannot return. They are currently living in temporary accommodation.