Neighbours save sleeping gran, 87, from house fire filmed on doorbell camera

Hero neighbors charged into a burning house to save an 87-year-old gran after her daughter saw the terrifying fire on a doorbell camera.

Phyllis Day, who has Alzheimer’s, was asleep when the blaze broke out in the utility room of her home in Wigston, Leicestershire.

neighbors spotted smoke billowing from the property at around 11.30pm last week and ran over to help.

Daughter Suzanne Wright was at home five miles away when she was woken up by the doorbell alarm alerting her to activity at her mum’s house.

She watched as around eight people tried to smash their way inside and initially thought they were drunk thugs attacking her mum’s home.

Using the intercom system on the doorbell, Suzanne realised the people were her mum’s neighbors, and she guided them to a key box outside.

Suzanne, 56, said: ‘It was just pure luck that her neighbors saw the flames and dashed round to help. I was asleep when I received an alert on my phone from the doorbell camera. I could see a couple of men without tops on hammering on the door, and my first thought was they were drunk or trying to break into mum’s house.

‘There were then lots of people outside trying to ram their way inside, and a man was shouting ‘get out, there’s a fire’. I was able to speak to them on the intercom on the camera and explained I lived elsewhere, but my mum was inside.’

Suzanne, who is a full-time carer for her mum, got dressed and watched on from afar as her husband drove the five miles to Phyllis’ home.

Investigators believe an electrical fault in the kitchen or utility room may have started the blaze.

Suzanne says she believes her mum, who has been living alone since her husband Charlie, 79, died in 2018, could not hear the smoke alarms.

She said: ‘My mum took her hearing aids out before going to bed, which is why she couldn’t hear the smoke alarms going off. She was completely oblivious to the fire in her home.’

neighbors Pav Sarpal, 28, and Stephan Smart, 44, ran into the house to rescue Phyllis.

Pav said: ‘It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life, all I could see were flames and smoke, and it was getting worse by the second. When the door opened, I ran in first, but I couldn’t breathe. I told Stephan to get me a towel so I could go upstairs where Phyllis was asleep.

‘I was coughing so much, the smoke was the worst thing – it was everywhere. It felt like I was being physically choked by the smoke. I had to run downstairs twice to get fresh air before heading up to bring Sue’s mum down.’

Stephan added: ‘I just saw flames coming straight through the kitchen door. I panicked a little to start with, but I knew somebody was upstairs and I had to get up there and get her down as quickly as possible.

‘When we found her bedroom, we woke Phyllis up, but she looked at me like I was going to rob her. I told her there was a fire and she needed to come with us, and we gently got her out of bed.’

Stephan and Pav took an arm each as they helped Phyllis down the stairs and out of the front door. Another neighbor, Dean Archer, 30, also rushed to help when he heard a loud explosion come from inside the house.

Shocking pictures show the charred remains of the bottom floor of the three-bed detached property.

Phyllis, who has ten grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, will now stay with Suzanne until her home is repaired.

Suzanne added: ‘I cannot thank the neighbors enough. They are absolute super heroes and I think King Charles should knight them all.’

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service said: ‘While we understand that the neighbors acted in the best intentions in rescuing the resident, we would urge the public not to enter buildings that are on fire, for any reason, as doing so endangers more lives.

‘Smoke inhalation can quickly disorientate, injure and incapacitate.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@usnewsrank.com.

For more stories like this, check our news page.