Brave mum who was brutally burned while saving her kids from a raging fire recalls her skin MELTING as she desperately tried to escape
WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES: Angel Fiorini, 33, suffered third degree burns over 43 per cent of her body after the fire broke out at her Washington home in October last year
A BRAVE mum who almost died while rescuing her children from a raging house fire has now married her childhood sweetheart.
Angel Fiorini, 33, suffered third degree burns over most of her body after the fire broke out at her Washington home in October last year.
Her daughter Gianna, eight, also suffered severe burns on her arms, hands and stomach, and the pair spent weeks in hospital recovering from their horrific injuries.
But in July, after a long, gruelling battle to get well, Angel wed her kids’ father Aaron, 34.
“It was such an emotional day,” Angel told The Sun Online. “We were celebrating not only our wedding but mine and Gianna’s survival, too.
“Just being able to stand there in front of our family was truly a miracle.”
On October 28, 2016, Angel was at her one story-home with youngsters, Gianna, Vinnie, four, and Rosalie, two, while Aaron was out with friends.
At around midnight, she woke up but struggled to breathe.
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“I remember opening my eyes and feeling really confused,” she recalled.
“I felt really hot and I was breathing but it was like my lungs weren’t working properly and I couldn’t take a decent breath.
“I got up and opened my bedroom door – that’s when I saw about a third of my home was on fire and my whole living room was full of thick, black smoke.
“I picked up Vinnie and Rosalie and ran outside with them. I remember looking at Gianna’s bedroom window and I don’t even think I screamed for help because there was no-one around.
“Then I ran back in for Gianna. I didn’t have a doubt I wouldn’t get to her – it was case of I had to rescue her no matter what. I think the adrenaline kicked in and I wasn’t afraid.”
By this point, more than half of Angel’s home was covered in 20 foot tall flames.
She got down onto her stomach and crawled army-style on her belly to get to Gianna’s bedroom. She heard her daughter crying out, “mum, mum.”
“I pulled her to the ground and dragged her beneath me out of the room and along the corridor to get to the front door,” Angel said.
“It was hard work but I wanted to protect her as much as I could.
“I got to the front door and turned the handle – my hand literally melted on the door knob while the fire was chasing us as it took over the whole house – it was like something out of a movie.
“We both had horrible black, charred skin hanging from our hands and our arms and I remember thinking it was all going to be okay because we were alive, but then I must have blacked out before we could get out of the house.”
Luckily, a retired firefighter and ambulance man Matt Burson saw the fire and raced to help.
He went into the house and found Angel and Gianna, close to the door.
They were flown to the University of Washington School of Medicine’s Harborview Medical Centre’s specialist burns centre in Seattle.
Angel had suffered 43 per cent third degree burns on her back, arms, hands and neck, and had suffered severe damage to her airways.
For several days she breathed through a ventilator and her arms were suspended in nets to aid healing.
Gianna was treated in a separate room and her burns were less severe than her mother's. Doctors said that if it hadn’t been for Angel shielding her from the flames and the smoke, she would have been a whole lot worse.
Together, they started to recover but then Angel suffered a massive setback when she contracted bacteria pneumonia, sepsis and then she suffered multiple organ failure, which led to her being in a coma for 10 days.
“My doctors told my family it was touch and go as to whether I would recover,” Angel said.
“Somehow, I pulled through. Aaron was keeping a 24 hour a day vigil while a family friend had the children for us – I had so many people rooting for me that I had to get better.
“I eventually had three skin grafts. One took the skin off my thighs and literally stapled it to my back and my arms – it was such a painful procedure but it had to be done if I was ever going to recover from the burns.”
Just five weeks after the fire, Angel was allowed to go home.
The cause of the fire was deemed ‘undetermined’ by the fire department, but Angel believes the cause could have been faulty heaters in one of the rooms.
“It was hard getting back to a normal life,” she said. “Gianna suffered from horrible nightmares and I had severe sweats caused by the skin grafts.
“And losing everything we ever had was so hard – all the pictures and memories that go up in flames when your house did are irreplaceable and we had to come to terms with losing everything.”
But in January, Aaron had a surprise for Angel, his girlfriend of 15 years.
At a dinner they had arranged to thank friends and the community for all their help, Aaron asked Angel to marry him – and she said yes.
“It was such a wonderful surprise,” recalled Angel. “After everything that we had been through, I think it had set Aaron thinking that we should get married at last.
“I was so thrilled – I couldn’t wait.”
The pair married in July in the mountains above their home. Vinnie was the ring bearer and Rosalie was a flower girl.
Gianna suffered from severe anxiety on the day of the wedding, but she managed to watch her parents get married.
“I couldn’t believe that we were finally married!” said Angel. “It was such a wonderful day surrounded by everyone important to us.
“I thanked God for keeping us safe and I celebrated life! And if I had to do save my children again, I would. I wouldn’t change a thing.
“Getting burned and being in the hospital was the worst time of my life but both Gianna and I survived. That puts losing the house into perspective.”
In June, we reported on the death of Judy Malinowski, 33, who was set on fire by her cruel boyfriend during a row.
Meanwhile, the Hot Water Challenge trend has claimed another victim as sleeping lad, 15, is left with shocking burns after idiot pals poured boiling hot water over him.