‘I watched my house burn down with memories of my late daughter inside’

A mother has told how she watched her house burn down – with memories of her late daughter inside.

Tricia Hayes, 64, said it was “unbearable” watching her dream home go up in smoke.

The items lost in the blaze included her daughter Steff’s art projects, school jotters and poetry – and a lock of her hair.

“She had beautiful dark brown hair, which was long, sleek and thick,” Tricia told BBC Scotland news.

“When she was little and had her hair cut I kept a lock of her hair.

“It’s a nightmare to have lost Steff and losing this lock of hair, which was part of her, has been devastating.”

Steff Wright, 43, died in December 2022.

Tricia, from Tranent in East Lothian, said her daughter had been very outgoing and had a fabulous laugh.

Some of her clothes survived the blaze but all Steff’s school artwork was destroyed, including models made from toilet roll tubes.

Tricia also lost the poems that Steff had written as a child.

“She was always a very individual little girl. She had these little boots and she used to go to school in them every day.

“The teacher had been telling her to take them off and she didn’t want to, so she wrote a poem about it.

“I’ve been trying to remember it because that was destroyed in the fire. I just remember the last line it said ‘I won’t take them off any day’.”

Tricia, who is originally from near Manchester, moved to East Lothian because her other daughter, Stacey Hayes, lived in nearby Edinburgh.

She bought the wooden three-bedroom home in Tranent about a year ago for £170,000.

“It was my dream house and I had just decorated it as I was planning to have lodgers living with me,” she said.

The fire broke out on Saturday 23 November.

Tricia had been in bed unaware that the fire had caught hold of her home when the alarm was raised by a neighbour who had seen the flames.

The woman, who lives across the street, rushed over in her dressing gown and banged on the door to get Tricia’s attention.

“When I opened the door she was shouting: ‘Come out, come out’,” said Tricia.

“She only had slippers on and it was snowy and icy.

“I didn’t know what was happening and then I was running across the street in my pyjamas in my bare feet through the snow.

“Then I stood in her kitchen with the shock and the terror of seeing my house burn. I was bawling my eyes out.”

Tricia described her neighbour as a hero.

She thinks the fire could have been caused by an electrical fault in her kitchen as that’s where her neighbour saw the flames.

Tricia has been living with a friend since the fire.

She later discovered that she did not have insurance after making a mistake when renewing her policy. It will cost £80,000 to rebuild the house.

Stacey, 42, has set up a fundraising page for her mum, and said she was extremely upset about the fire.

“When I worry about what it’s going to cost to replace her house, I think how glad I am that my mum is okay,” she said.

“She was so happy in that house, she had finally found somewhere she felt really comfortable. She had finally found piece of mind and security in a place she wanted to be.

“Then to literally see it go up in smoke in front of her just after finally thinking things were looking a bit better for the family is very devastating.”

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