The passionate gesture of Amanj Issen to welcome his girlfriend home from a month abroad sets his house on fire as he lit girlfriend's name in tea lights in the bedroom in Chatham, Kent. He left nothing to chance to create the right mood to welcome his girl friend, Jana Stankeviciute. The chilled champagne, flowers and tea lights to spell out his girlfriend's name and a heart- everything was perfect till the candles set off a blaze and a bang that virtually destroyed the house.

This happened when this girl friend was still on her way home from Latvia as the builder boy friend, 29, dialled 999 and firefighters battled to control the blaze.

"She was still touched when Mr Issen showed her photos of the display - and he insisted he would repeat the gesture 'but maybe just with flowers and chocolates," 24-year-old Miss Stankeviciute said.

The boy friend just wanted to give Jana a big surprise as he had not seen her for long and he had no idea that such small candles could cause such extensive damage. Jana was happy that nobody was hurt in the incident and was bowled over by the beauty of his display of love when she saw the picture of candles and the settings.

The distressed couple is looking for a new accommodation as their rented home of the past 15 months has been badly smoke and fire damaged.

Mr Issen, originally from Kurdistan said that he hopes the experience will make other people use candles safely.

Tea lights have become popular decorative items to create a relaxing or romantic atmosphere at homes though many people are unaware of the dangers that these candles could pose.

Fireman Paul Nash, who attended the blaze, said tea lights reach "extremely high temperatures," adding: "If they're placed directly on a plastic or combustible surface they quickly melt into the material and can cause a fire."