A mother, who was recovering from cancer treatment, was tragically killed after an old box plug sparked a devastating blaze which engulfed her home.
The fire, sparked by an old electrical outlet, tore through Wendy Verne-Cole’s home in Barry, south Wales on April 18, 2024.
Brave emergency responders tried to perform CPR on the 68-year-old in her garden before she was rushed away in an ambulance.
Eventually, the mother-of-one, who had only recently had received a positive outcome following her cancer treatment, was taken to Morriston Hospital.
Here, her beloved daughter Sydney was told her doting mother had not survived the horrifying fire within mere minutes of her and her partner Jack arriving.
Sydney told MailOnline: ‘The receptionist walked up to get someone and I turned to Jack and I said, “I think they’re going to take me into the room and tell me she’s gone.”
‘And that’s exactly what happened.’
Recalling the life-changing incident, the 26-year-old old initially believed there had been perhaps a ‘small’ fire before she was greeted by her charcoaled childhood home.
‘There were three fire engines and so many people. I just remember running out of the car before it even stopped, crying and screaming,”Where is she?”
Wendy Verne Cole, 68, (pictured with her daughter Sydney) had received a positive outcome after completing her radiotherapy treatment for her cancer, before her death
Unfortunately, following her treatment, the mother-of-one was killed in a fire – thought to have been sparked by an old box plug, which engulfed her home
‘All I could see was all of the smoke. I wasn’t allowed close to the house, they had cordoned everything. I was probably there for hours speaking to a million different people.’
She added: ‘I got to see her briefly in the ambulance and I was too scared to go too close. I remember thinking how she had been so unwell and frail during her treatment.’
Before her death, ‘resilient’ Wendy had been suffering from cancer for around three years, and her radiotherapy treatment had been a success although she continued to be monitored for lesions on her lungs.
‘I think that’s why I was so like shocked. [Her death] happened the way it has,’ Sydney added: ‘She’s had been through so much. I used to say to her, “Just think of everything you’ve gone through.”
Fondly remembering her ‘best mate’ and creative mother, Sydney revealed how despite not growing up with a great deal of money, her mother always strove to make her childhood as special as possible.
‘I remember when I was younger we didn’t have a lot of money, so we would go into the back garden and she’d let me just paint the shed, paint rocks,’ she said: ‘In our hallway, we created collages from magazines.
‘She just let me have complete like creative freedom – and we did it together.
‘We didn’t have money to go on holiday but she still made everything special as it could have been for me.’
Now her loving daughter, Sydney (pictured) is calling for better fire education surrounding old electrical appliances
Remembering her ‘resilient’ mother Wendy (pictured), Sydney recalled how she always strove to make her childhood as special and creative as possible
‘She was just always there, my constant, no matter what, even when she was in a bad mood, I know I could ring her and she’s there,’ she said.
‘For me it hasn’t sunk in to a degree. I am still in shock, still in look after Mum mode, I have to make things happen for her.’
Reflecting on their last moment together, only two days before the devastating blaze, her mother had jovially shared images of their Polish ancestors.
‘Because she was getting older, she wasn’t like super mobile,’ she said: ‘And we were going through old photos while we were sat in her bed and she was just showing me photos of them of people.
She added: ‘When I asked, ‘who are these people?’, she was like, ‘I don’t know, they’re our Polish ancestors, it was quite funny.
‘She was just always there, my constant, no matter what, even when she was in a bad mood or whatever, I know I could ring her and she’s there. For me it hasn’t sunk in to a degree.’
Remembering the moment she first built up the courage to enter her mother’s home, the 26-year-old described how her mother’s room, wallpaper and mattress had been blackened by the ferocious blaze.
‘I still can’t believe the amount of damage,’ she said: ‘The first time I went there I couldn’t go upstairs my partner went upstairs for me… but I knew eventually I had to see it.
‘Her room a lot was burnt and there was smoke damage to the whole of the upstairs. There is an oil painting of hers that has heat damage, which I need to try and restore, as well as a painting of my grandmother and a lot of stuff in my room.’
‘Unfortunately where they cleared my mum’s room, they put it into my old room, so there’s a lot of stuff I need to go through now try and save memories, but it just like everything smells.’
A general view of the road where the fire, which killed Wendy, is understood to have taken place
Marc Davies, Home Safety Manager for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service has warned of the dangers of faulty electrics in the home (a stock image of a box plug)
She added: ‘There was another lovely photo of her when she used to do modelling right next to her bed and I was so heartbroken it was gone but thankfully I found another one.’
Now Sydney has called for better fire education surrounding the risks of faulty and old electrical equipment in the home following her mother’s tragic and sudden death.
‘It’s one of those weird things, you don’t even think about how old that extension lead is when you are plugging it into your walls,’ she added: ‘It’s still unbelievable to me, because, like you don’t hear about house fires often.’
Describing her mother as ‘very old school,’ she said: She had a flip phone, and she probably had that extension lead for God knows how long
The biggest thing is ti check and think how long you’ve had your extension needs for, and your box plugs.
‘Because our outlets there’s so much power in them, and unfortunately, all it takes is one day where there’s just too much.’
Marc Davies, Home Safety Manager for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service told MailOnline: ‘Faulty electrics are the second most common cause of fire in the home after cooking, therefore it is important ensure that plugs and sockets are not damaged.
‘Check that visible cables and leads are in good condition, avoid overloading sockets and always switch off your electrical items when they are not in use.
‘When replacing older electrical equipment we recommend purchasing from reputable retailers and check the equipment bears the CE or UKCA certification.’
It is understood South Wales Fire and Rescue are still investigating the fire.
To donate to Sydney’s GoFundMe for her mother’s funeral click here.
