South Yorkshire: Man accidentally burns down own flat while proposing to girlfriend
Having lit "hundreds of tea lights" in advance, the man got back from picking his partner up to find his home engulfed by flames.
Tuesday 4 August 2020 16:54, UK
A man accidentally set fire to his flat after a romantic gesture he had planned to accompany his proposal to his girlfriend went wrong.
Three fire engines were sent to the home above a newsagents in Sheffield on Monday night.
The man had intended to pop the question to his partner in a room "filled with hundreds of tea lights", balloons and a bottle of wine, according to South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue.
But he apparently left the candles burning while he went "round the corner" to pick her up from work, only to return to find his flat engulfed in flames.
He and his girlfriend managed to escape the blaze unharmed - before he instead asked for her hand in marriage outside his smouldering flat.
The fire service described the chain of events in a series of tweets, adding: "As a bonus, she said YES!
The owner of AM News, who gave his name only as Mully, told : "There were like 20 candles. When he came back there was a blaze.
"Then he proposed outside during the fire. He didn't get on his knees and she gave him a kiss. He had to make her happy after all that somehow."
Mully, who said his shop had not suffered any damage, said the couple were now staying at a friend's house.
"I was worried because I got messages from the locals saying 'Your shop's on fire'," he said.
The fire service said the incident highlighted an "important message".
"As romantic as they are, and as much as we all love 'em, candles can be SO dangerous," a spokesperson said.
"Please, please extinguish them properly when you've done, don't put them near flammable items, like curtains and don't leave 100s of tea lights unattended."