Firefighters rushed to a young woman’s home to put out a blaze, only to discover the flames were from a video of a cosy yule log playing on her television to keep her dog happy.
Lydia Maskell, 23, put on the video of the fire burning in a fireplace to keep Cocker Spaniel Romeo comforted while she went shopping. Ten minutes after she'd left the house on Wednesday she got a notification from her video doorbell showing a fire officer and two fire engines outside her home.
A hilarious video shows one of the firefighters explaining through the doorbell how a neighbour had called 999 after spotting the fire through their window. Lydia, from Peacehaven, East Sussex, said: “When I saw the firefighters, I thought 'oh sh*t'.
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“I'd been making fajitas but I was sure I'd turned the hob off. They said there was a fire on the TV and a neighbour had called.
“They'd gone into the back garden, looked through the window, and saw it was on TV. It was mortifying. It's something that would only happen to me. You couldn't write it.
“I don't have a lamp in the living room so I put the video of the fire on so I don't have to sit in the dark. It makes the room nice and cosy, I wanted a relaxing evening. I just wanted to chill.”
Looking into the doorbell camera, the firefighter is heard saying: “There’s a fire on your television and one of your neighbours has reported it but there’s no fire. Thank you.”
The hilarious video was posted to TikTok and has had more than 73,000 views and 7,000 likes. In the clip, the software trainer holds a glass of wine while sitting in front of the screen.
She says: “The vibes here are immaculate. We have the fire, we have the wine, we have the Kindle, we have the candle and my dinner is in the oven.”
Lydia’s dad Gary Maskell, 41, and stepmum Emma Bridge, 44, were on holiday in Spain and were shocked when they logged on to their doorbell app to see two fire engines outside. They plan on taking a gift around to the neighbour to apologise and thank them for looking out for the family.
Lydia added: “I haven't spoken to the neighbour yet but my parents are going to take a bottle of wine over. They were on holiday so they were worried when they saw firefighters outside.
“We are so incredibly thankful for the fire service and our neighbour for looking out for us.”
An East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “An incident in Peacehaven, at 6.49pm on September 25 was recorded as a false alarm with good intent.”
