Gardaí in Drogheda said an arson attack on a house had "the potential for loss of life."
The fire caused extensive damage to the terraced house in Ballsgrove, Drogheda, in the early hours of Saturday.
Catherine Devine, her husband Vincent and their children Vincent Jnr (6) and Joyce (3) were asleep when, what Ms Devine believes were two petrol bombs, were thrown through the front of the house.
She said the family was unable to escape through the front of the house and had to use a child’s slide in the back garden to get into their neighbours.
Ms Devine said she believed it was “an attempt to murder me and my family” because the fire prevented the family leaving through either the front door or the large window at the front of the house.
“We are lucky to be alive,” she said.
Ms Devine said she believed she knew who was responsible and it has its origins in a dispute involving her husband.
She said the fire has left them homeless and also destroyed all of the children’s Christmas presents.
After they heard the bang and explosion she opened her bedroom door “and saw all the smoke,” she recalled. “I didn’t know what the bang was. It was like the house lifted. I ran and got the kids, me husband did as well, we wanted to get the kids out of the house.”
There were “big clouds of smoke and got half way down the stairs and I could see the sitting room was all in flames.”
Garda Supt Gerry Smith on Sunday said, "it was a despicable act and had the potential for loss of life."
He said gardaí are treating it as arson and are asking for anyone with information on it to contact them.