TikTok shoe warmer causes £200k fire in Oldham home

A £13 shoe warmer bought on TikTok has caused £200,000 worth of damage to a family home in Oldham, after the device unexpectedly burst into flames while sitting unused for two weeks. Kaela Rigg, 46, discovered the fire when she briefly returned home to drop off shopping and detected a burning smell coming from her garage.

The mum-of-two followed the smoke to her utility room, where she found thick black smoke billowing from the connecting garage door. 'I could see it was coming from the garage door,' she said. 'At this point, I knew I needed to get out.' She evacuated with her five-year-old Shih-Poo dog Georgie and called emergency services.

Firefighters from Rochdale and Oldham stations arrived within 10 minutes and extinguished the blaze before it destroyed the entire five-bedroom detached property on Whitebeam Close. The fire service confirmed the electric shoe warmer had been plugged in with the wall switch activated when it ignited.

The incident has left the family facing 12 months of displacement while £200,000 worth of repairs are completed. 'The smoke from the fire has gotten into everything upstairs and downstairs, the walls, the furniture, electronics,' Kaela said. 'We are going to have to rip everything out and start again.

TikTok has removed the product from its platform pending a full investigation. Kaela, who runs a restaurant, is warning others about the dangers of buying electrical items from social media platforms. 'I'm kicking myself for buying it now,' she said.