'I'll never clean the caravan this way again ... it burned my entire face'
"I did one more big spray and then something went bang - there was a really loud explosion and a big flash," the Mackay mum reveals. "Suddenly, my face was on fire."
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Ever since she began travelling with her kids full time in 2021, Samantha has tried her best to keep her caravan in good condition.
For years, her efforts have been rewarded, with the mobile home giving her family a lifestyle they’d always dreamt of.
But last month, while doing a task she has done countless times before, the Mackay mum’s life took a devastating turn.
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On the evening of October 13, Samantha decided to clean out a cupboard that sits underneath the fridge while she waited for the hot water system to heat up the shower she had waited all day to enjoy before going to bed.
“I saw there was a cockroach problem in that area, so I thought I would spray the carpet at the bottom of the cupboard to deter them,” the 40-year-old tells Kidspot.
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"There was a really loud explosion"
As a mum who avoids the use of chemicals for her family’s health, Samantha thought she was doing the right thing by spraying an aerosol can of eucalyptus liquid onto the carpet to keep the bugs away. Tragically, it was anything but.
“I soaked the carpet, spraying it heavily for about a minute,” she says.
“Then I did one more spray and then something went bang - there was a really loud explosion and a big flash.”
Samantha’s two daughters, Alana, 20, and Roux, 8, were just a couple of steps away in their bunk beds at the time of the explosion, which was frighteningly followed by the soaked carpet and cupboard being set alight in flames.
“I was putting out the fire and I heard my daughter say, ‘Are you okay, Mummy?’”
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"My hair was all singed back"
While the girls were miraculously unharmed, Samantha was far less fortunate.
The single mum-of-three suffered first degree burns to her entire face.
“I thought I was fine but then all of a sudden, it felt like my skin was on fire,” Samantha remembers vividly.
“My daughter said to me, ‘Your face is black’. My hair was all singed back and it was the hair on my face that was all singed, I didn’t lose my skin thankfully but the stinging and burning just didn’t stop.”
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"It's a miracle nothing worse happened"
Following a traumatic emergency room visit to treat her injuries, Samantha would need to return to hospital just two weeks later when her 16-year-old son, Dylan, was involved in an accidental fall.
His injuries are so severe - and requiring surgery - that the family are now forced to settle on the Sunshine Coast and find a rental amid a housing crisis until Dylan is able to recover, which may not be until mid next year.
The caravan, meanwhile, survived the explosion - which was likely caused by the aerosol spray coming into contact with the fridge’s pilot light that was not visible inside the cupboard - and is awaiting repairs, meaning the family have been unable to use the fridge since the incident.
“I’m a nervous wreck now, so travelling is definitely off the cards for us for a while,” Samantha concedes.
“It’s a miracle nothing worse happened.”
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Originally published as 'I'll never clean the caravan this way again ... it burned my entire face'
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