A young mother burnt out of home in a suspected arson attack has said her family has nothing left except "the clothes on our back".
Until last week, Katie Chalk, her partner Jordan Wade and their four children were living in a flat on James’s Street in Dublin 8.
Early on Sunday morning, Ms Chalk awoke to the sound of a fire alarm going off.
When she opened her bedroom door, she saw to her horror that her front door was on fire.
“That was my only escape out the house,” she told The Claire Byrne Show.
“I went back into the room and shouted to my partner, ‘The house is on fire.’
“He ran straight out to the front door, got the front door open.”
The couple managed to get three of their children out of the house but, to their horror, realised their seven year old had not come with them.
“My oldest daughter, she froze in the bedroom,” Ms Chalk recalled.
“We had to go back to the fire to get my daughter, to carry her out.
“Him and two of my children have third degree burns.”
'We have nothing'
Ms Chalk continued that everything the family owned was destroyed and that all they have left are “the clothes on our back”.
“The children have nothing, everything's gone,” she said.
“Like even childhood stuff from me and Jordan had collected over the years.
“Everything's gone, we have nothing. Not even a sock for the children.”
Gardaí are treating the fire as a suspected arson attack and the scene has undergone a technical examination at the scene.
They believe the flat was attacked in a case of mistaken identity.
The family are now living in temporary accommodation, where the conditions are “horrific”.
Ms Chalk is also worried that the mental trauma from the fire has “ruined” her children’s lives.
“They're not coping well, none of us are coping well,” she said.
“The two with disabilities, they like their comfort, they like their safe zone.”
Ms Chalk is unsure what the future now holds for the family but is grateful for the support they have received so far.
“We have friends and family that have been so generous - you can't thank them enough for,” she said.
“But it's just horrendous, I don't have words to put into how I even feel.”
Main image: Katie Chalk and her family. Image: Supplied.
