'I absolutely panicked. I saw it and I just froze... minutes later I'd lost everything'

When Tia Henderson heard the fire alarm go off, she thought it was one of her neighbours' burning their toast again. But it wasn't. Moments later, she stood frozen in panic as she watched her whole living room - her whole life - go up in flames around her.

The 21-year-old from Oldham was left with nothing but the clothes on her back after a fire broke out in her flat in Chadderton. The former youth mayor for Oldham said her living room went up in flames ‘within minutes’ after a mishap with a candle.

The blaze has left Tia's apartment uninhabitable and all of her belongings destroyed. Her recently adopted cat, Treasure, tragically passed away during the incident.

Tia has been left 'distraught' and is now sofa surfing with friends while the council organises emergency accommodation for her.

And it’s not the first time the young ambassador, who became Oldham's first care leaver to represent young people in council, has had to leave her home. In 2022, Tia faced homelessness after a serious rat infestation rendered her previous flat unliveable.

The fire is thought to have started on Monday (August 12) after she lit a candle in her living room. Tia believes her curtains caught fire and the flame then spread to her furniture.

Tia said: “I feel so guilty. It's something that you do every day, lighting a candle. You see stuff like this all the time on social media. I just never thought it could be me in this position.”

She described how she’d walked back into her living room after hearing a fire alarm going off ‘so quietly’ she thought it was coming from the neighbours.

“When I walked back into my living room, I realized that my sofa was on fire. My curtains were on fire,” Tia said. “I absolutely panicked. I saw it and I