Girl, 6, ran into burning house to rescue sleeping mum and siblings
Olivia Patterson rescued her family from the fire which left their home and almost all their possessions destroyed.
A girl aged only six rescued her family after their house caught fire, dashing inside to shout ‘Wake up mum – wake up the babies.’
Olivia Patterson was on the other side of the street with a friend when ‘by absolute chance’ she saw flames pouring from the semi-detached home in North Yorkshire.
Although other neighbours were outside, nobody else had thought to alert her mum and siblings because there was no car on the drive so they didn’t realise they were home, Olivia’s grandma said.
The fire started in the adjoining property on April 4 and quickly spread to the upstairs of the three-bedroom home next door, destroying almost all the family’s possessions.
When Laura ran back in, she found mum Laura, 29, asleep on the sofa with siblings Joel-James, one, and Tiffany, two.
Olivia then woke all three of them up and they escaped the fire unharmed thanks to her efforts.
Her grandmother Sadie Gelder, 54, says she is ‘so proud’ of the ‘amazing’ schoolgirl for rescuing her family from the blaze in Riccall.
She said: ‘We are absolutely so proud of her. She’s got ADHD so she’s been absolutely amazing.
‘We can’t believe Olivia got Laura out – she’s six years old and ran in a burning building.’
An investigation is currently ongoing but the family have been told the fire might have been caused by a phone charger.
Sadie said: ‘She was shouting “Wake up mum, the house is on fire – wake up the babies.”
‘The people in the street didn’t think anyone was in because there wasn’t a car on the drive.’
Sadie says that the family are now staying in an Airbnb because they have lost almost everything in the house fire.
‘They managed to get a few of the baby’s clothes but everything else has gone, including their birthday presents,’ she said.
‘People have been donating beds, bedding and towels – things like that.
‘She should be getting another council house but it’s all the little things so it’s just to help her build everything back up.’
A fundraising page has now been set up by Laura’s former colleagues to help support the family.
Organiser Marsha Roworth said: ‘Together with some coworkers who have worked alongside Laura in a care company (Laura & family aware) we are wanting to raise funds for Laura to help them in any small way to overcome the devastating circumstance they are in.’
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