PLUMPING up the pillows of her eldest daughter’s hospital bed, Tracey Azab leaned in to kiss her goodbye.
Christmas was just around the corner and Tracey, 42, was on the brink of becoming a grandmother for the first time – but an unbelievably cruel, and potentially deadly, twist of fate was about to shatter her happiness.
The single mum from Slough, Berkshire, hated leaving her daughter, Ellie, 22, alone on the maternity ward, but she had to get back to the home she shared with her two younger daughters, Layla, 19, and Mya, 16.
Back at their three-bed end of terrace council house, fairy lights twinkled on the 6ft artificial, pre-lit Christmas tree, which had neatly wrapped presents nestled beneath it.
One of those gifts was a tiny cardigan Tracey had lovingly wrapped for her unborn granddaughter.
A treasured heirloom, all three of her daughters had come home from hospital wearing it as babies, and the proud gran-to-be wanted to continue the family tradition.
Exhausted, Tracey fed her two cats, turned off the Christmas tree lights and headed upstairs to bed.
But four hours later, she woke to the smell of smoke and the horrifying realisation that her house was on fire.
“I could hear the cracking of the flames outside my bedroom door and thick, black plumes of smoke were streaming from underneath,” says Tracey.
“I thought I was going to die.”
Tracey had rushed Ellie to hospital in the early hours of December 20, 2022 after her daughter became worried there was reduced movement of the baby.
With a due date of January 3 the following year, Tracey didn’t want to take any risks, so Ellie was checked over by nurses at Wexham Park Hospital, near Slough.
“Fortunately, everything was fine, but doctors kept her in. By the time I got home and eventually crawled into bed at 5.30am, I was shattered,” she says.
Thankfully, her two younger daughters weren’t at the house that night – Layla was at a sleepover with friends, while Mya, her youngest, was at her dad’s.
As Tracey frantically grabbed a pillowcase and held it to her mouth to try to block out the fumes flooding her bedroom, she panicked about how she would get out.
‘Electric shock’
“I had this strange, sandy feeling in my mouth and my heart was racing,” she says.
“It all happened so fast. I dialled 999 and pleaded for help, but I was choking on the smoke and couldn’t get my full address out. Panicking, I called my mum, Shirley, then 66, and managed to scream ‘The house is on fire!’
“The only way I was going to make it out alive was through the bedroom window.
I knew I had to get as far away from the house as possible in case it exploded
“‘I can’t die,’ I thought. I’ll have to jump.”
Terrified, Tracey clambered up onto the windowsill, only to be faced with a 25ft drop to the garden below.
“I planned to lower myself down gently, but my foot got stuck in the window frame and I tumbled out, landing painfully on my side in a prickly thorn bush,” she says.
“The pain felt like an electric shock and the spines of the bush tore my skin.
“Even though I was topless after my pyjama top came off in the fall, I knew I had to get as far away from the house as possible in case it exploded. Somehow, I managed to drag myself to the top of the garden and out onto the street.”
‘Lost everything’
Tracey drifted in and out of consciousness, vaguely aware of figures in the road.
“The next thing I knew, a fireman was at my side. I couldn’t feel my legs and I was scared,” she recalls.
“I begged him not to let me die and pleaded with him to save our two cats, Gizzy, 12, and our eight-week-old kitten.
After she was rushed to Wexham Park Hospital, a CT scan showed that – miraculously – Tracey hadn’t suffered any spinal injuries.
“The doctor said I was very lucky not to have broken any bones, but I didn’t feel lucky,” says Tracy.
“My throat felt raw from the smoke and I was covered with thorns, which all had to be tweezed out.”
My throat felt raw from the smoke and I was covered with thorns, which all had to be tweezed out
Tracey was treated for cuts and bruises before being discharged later that evening, but her nightmare was far from over.
“When Mum drove me past my home to get to hers, where the girls were waiting for me, I couldn’t hold back the tears – it was a blackened, charred shell, completely destroyed by the blaze,” she says.
“The girls and I had lost everything.”
An estimated £50,000 worth of Tracey’s belongings, including her phone, purse and clothes were lost in the fire, as well as all the children’s Christmas presents under the tree.
Most heartbreaking of all, the special cardigan she’d saved for her unborn granddaughter had also perished.
And while the family’s beloved cat Gizzy survived, their kitten didn’t make it.
Tracey says: “We spent Christmas at Mum’s that year. Waking up that morning knowing there were no gifts to give the girls was the worst feeling. I couldn’t stop crying.”
While Tracey’s daughters were devastated at the loss of their home, they were grateful their mum had escaped relatively unscathed.
‘Still traumatised’
Tracey’s mother Shirley, who sadly passed away in July 2025, and father John, 67, rallied to make Christmas – which Tracey had been due to host herself – as special as possible.
And on New Year’s Day, despite struggling to walk, Tracey was by her daughter Ellie’s side as her granddaughter, Robyn, came into the world.
“I couldn’t stop crying when I looked at Robyn,” she says.
“It had been the thought of meeting her that had given me the will to survive the fire and she brought us some much-needed joy.”
Homeless and with all their belongings gone up in smoke, friends and family rallied to help provide Tracey and the girls with vital clothes and other essentials.
“Because we rented, I’d never bothered to get contents insurance. Our friends and family were brilliant though, donating clothes, bedding, pots and pans,” Tracey says.
“They even set up a GoFundMe page, which raised £900.”
Seven weeks later, Tracey received the fire report from the fire brigade.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Tracey says.
“The fire was put down to a faulty wall socket – and the first item to ignite was the Christmas tree, even though I’d turned it off.”
For months I suffered from flashbacks and panic attacks
A week after the report was issued, Slough Borough Council put Tracey and her family into temporary accommodation and they began to piece their lives back together.
“For months I suffered from flashbacks and panic attacks,” says Tracey.
“I was still traumatised the following Christmas, but it was Robyn’s first and I wanted to make it special for her.
Despite still waiting to be rehoused in a larger, three-bed home, Tracey is determined not to let the fire cast a shadow over this Christmas.
“I haven’t let it take away my festive spirit,” she says.
“I still relish watching the kids open their presents under the twinkling lights.”
