The incident occurred just after 4am on Monday, June 9 when CFA crews from Kilmore, Wallan and Broadford responded to the blaze, which started in a child's bedroom.
“I was alerted by my son yelling and screaming because he got burnt from debris falling from the top of the bunk,” Jessica, who is a mother of four, said.
“He woke us up by saying there was fire on his bed.
“I was in pure shock and surprise. All I wanted to do was make sure my kids were safe.”
The family's quick action to close the bedroom door helped contain the fire, though both Jessica and her 14-year-old son sustained injuries.
“I got burnt on my toe, and my 14-year-old got third-degree burns on his arm,” Jessica said.
The incident has led Jessica to advocate for safer charging practices.
“Please be mindful of where you are charging devices. I’d recommend charging on benches away from any kind of fabric materials and preferably not overnight,” she said.
Despite having smoke alarms installed in the hallway outside the closed bedroom doors, Jessica admitted she didn’t hear them due to shock.
She is now planning comprehensive safety upgrades to her home.
“I’m now focusing on getting safer cords with surge and overload protection and I'm also going to deck my house out with more smoke alarms insides our bedrooms and fire extinguishers throughout the house,” she said.
8°C