UK man accidentally sets house on fire in marriage proposal gone wrong

A UK man's proposal plans have ended in disaster. Photo / South Yorkshire Fire Service

A UK man accidentally set his own house on fire in a romantic gesture gone wrong.

He'd planned to propose to his girlfriend in a room in his flat filled with hundreds of tea light candles, balloons and a bottle of wine, according to Sky News.

But leaving the candles burning while he went "round the corner" to pick up his girlfriend, he came back to find the flat going up in flames.

Three fire engines were called to the flat above a newsagents shop in Sheffield on Monday night.

The man and his girlfriend escaped unharmed as he asked for her hand in marriage outside the burning flat.

The fire service described the chain of events in a series of tweets, adding: "As a bonus, she said YES!"

But they also warned that candles should never be left unattended.

THREAD: Look closely. What do you see? That's right, hundreds of tea light candles! 🕯️

Want to know what happened here? We thought you did. It involves a romantic proposal that didn't quite go to plan, and includes an important lesson around candle use.

Lets go! ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/p8aU6pQAUF

— South Yorkshire Fire (@SYFR) August 4, 2020

"As romantic as they are, and as much as we all love 'em, candles can be SO dangerous."

"Please, please extinguish them properly when you've done, don't put them near flammable items, like curtains and don't leave 100s of tea lights unattended."

The owner of the newsagents told the Sheffield Star that the man proposed outside while the fire was still raging.

"He didn't get on his knees and she gave him a kiss. He had to make her happy after all that somehow."