Toddlers’ Halloween fancy dress outfits caught fire with ‘horrifying’ speed when safety tested by Cornish experts.

Now Cornwall Trading Standards officers and Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service staff are warning parents to be on the alert this Halloween.

The organisations tested five locally bought outfits in a controlled environment at St Austell Community Fire Station. 

The outfits were typical children’s Halloween costumes, said testers – a pretty girl’s dress with billowing net and polyester fabrics, layers and trailing fabric, a vampire cape, a baby’s bat costume, a skeleton outfit and a witch’s costume.

All of them burned and melted in just two minutes. But, said the team in a statement: ‘Most distressing of all was the 12-24 month embellished skeleton outfit for a baby which burned within seconds. 

‘At this age babies are curious, crawling around and investigating and the speed at which the outfit was engulfed in flames is horrifying.’

The tests were nevertheless an improvement on previous years in that the thicker fabric bat and vampire costumes did not light easily and burned slowly.

Customers are advised to ensure to buy costumes from reputable sources that are manufactured to a high safety standard.  

‘Most outfits that consumers buy for children to dress up in are currently tested to CE toy product safety standards. 

‘Choose well-fitting costumes in thicker materials and check for ‘Flame resistant’ labels that are less likely to ignite and extinguish more quickly.  

‘Warning labels on costumes and props are important advice to read before you buy.’

Jane Tomlinson of Cornwall Trading Standards said: ‘We want to encourage all parents and carers to dress their children safely this Halloween. 

Fire and Rescue Service watch manager Gary Cotton added: ‘Please supervise your children at all times as lanterns, candles, tea-lights in pumpkins and sparklers can be lethal to children. We would advise using torches or glow sticks instead.’