A Paisley mum who ripped her sleeping child from her bed as a fire neared her bedroom has begged people with information to come forward.
Claire McGinley was asleep in her Chapelhill Road home in Paisley with partner Mark and six-year-old daughter Everly when a neighbour banged on her door to raise the alarm at 4.30am on Friday.
A fire, which had been deliberately set, had completely engulfed their garden and was nearing the house when they were, thankfully, roused from their sleep.
Claire said windows at the back of the property - where little Everly slept - were closed so the family hadn’t woken to the smell or sound of the massive blaze just metres away.
She told the Paisley Daily Express: “At 4.30am we were awoken by our neighbour banging on the door.
“Mark saw the flames and shouted to me to grab Everly.
“I grabbed our wee girl from her bed, terrified and not sure where the fire was or what was happening and ran to our in laws who thankfully live across the road.
“I thought the sound of the flames crackling was just heavy rain. But it turns out it was a huge fire engulfing our garden and heading towards the house.”
The fire was so big it could be seen across Hunterhill and it was a man living further away who first spotted the flames and called the fire brigade.
He raced to Claire’s neighbour, where he believed the fire was, before the pair ran next door to wake the sleeping family.
“What they did saved us,” Claire said.
“Alex, our neighbour, thought so quickly and got us up.
“With the windows not being opened I don’t think we would have noticed, that’s the scary thing.
“I am trying not to think about the what ifs as it’s too frightening.”
Firefighters arrived quickly and managed to stop the fire from reaching the house.
However their garden and everything in it has been destroyed.
To their shock, the family learned over the weekend that the fire was one of two in the local area.
Both had been started deliberately.
“The scary thing is that person is still out there and I don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” Claire added.
“It’s honestly sickening and terrifying to think that someone went home after doing this and probably crawled into their bed, that they might get up again today and decide to do this again.
“I have been going to neighbours personally to see if they have CCTV. So far no one has anything.
“But this is too big, too random and frightening, someone has to talk or someone has to hear something.”
Meanwhile Paisley police officers are asking anyone with information on the fire to come forward
A spokeswoman for Police Scotland told the Express: “Police were called to a report of a fire in the garden of a house in Chapelhill Road, Paisley.
“The incident is being treated as wilful and enquiries are continuing.
“Anyone with information is asked to contact Police Scotland through 101, quoting incident number 0522 of Friday, August 6. Alternatively you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”
