A NEWPORT woman has sent out a warning after her gazebo was set on fire by a lantern.

Mother of two Jodie Morgan,29, of Graig Park Circle, Malpas, warned of the dangers of setting off Chinese lanterns after one landed on her gazebo.

She was playing with her six-year-old daughter Callie-Mae and three-month-old baby boy Max upstairs on Monday evening when she heard shouting and banging on her door.

Her neighbours Vernon and Elaine Edwards, who were in their garden shed at the time, spotted the flames and put the fire out using the garden hose.

The gazebo, made of cotton, caught fire when a Chinese lantern landed in Miss Morgan’s garden and burnt a gaping hole in the fabric.

She said: “It’s lucky my next door neighbours were in their garden at the time otherwise the decking could have caught fire.”

Miss Morgan said one of her neighbours asked another if she had a light on the gazebo before they realised it was on fire.

“I’ve set off lanterns in the past to celebrate loved ones but you don’t think of the consequences until you’re on the receiving end of one.

“We were keeping the gazebo up to have a bonfire. It’s a good thing it isn’t summer as my daughter and I could have been sat under there."

A recent large fire at the Smethwick recycling plant, in Birmingham, where a lantern set fire to bales of plastic, has led to calls for a ban on setting off Chinese lanterns.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said it does not recommend the use of sky lanterns as they are a fire risk to property, crops, vehicles and livestock and can harm the environment.

A spokesman said anyone wanting to use these lanterns must make sure the area is clear of flammable materials.