The heroic actions of a six-year-old girl helped bring her family to safety after a fire ripped through their home in North Yorkshire.
Olivia Lee Patterson was with a friend playing outside her home in Riccall, near Selby, on the afternoon of Thursday, April 4, when she saw smoke coming from her neighbour’s house.
“She looked up and saw a fire blazing upstairs,” her grandmother Sadie Gelder said.
The fire then spread to the roof of her semi-detached home.
Her mother Laura Lee Patterson, 29, was asleep on the sofa inside the house with Olivia’s siblings – Joel James Austin, aged 15 months, and Tiffany Rose Austin, aged two.
“Olivia ran in and said: ‘Wake the baby up the house is on fire mummy’,” Sadie said.
Laura, in a daze after just waking up, grabbed her children and quickly ran outside to find others gathered in the street.
The family walked away from the fire unharmed thanks to Olivia’s quick thinking.
But the fire destroyed the contents of their home and also everything upstairs in the neighbouring property.
“Laura has lost everything,” Sadie said.
As reported at the time, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said four fire crews and an Ariel Ladder Platform were called to the scene to tackle the fire shortly after 3.15pm.
“The fire brigade was brilliant,” Sadie said, adding that the crews provided support to the family after the blaze.
A fire investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the fire but the family has been told it may have been a phone charger.
Family lived in home less than one year before fire destroyed it
Laura moved into the home with her children and fiancé Jason Austin, 33, last May.
“She loved the house; she just finished decorating it,” her mum said.
Sadie added that the home is council-owned and now must be knocked down and rebuilt due to the extent of the damage.
The family is temporarily living in an Airbnb until they work out their next steps.
Sadie said they won't know the details of an insurance claim that can be made until the fire investigation has finished.
People in the community have donated toys and clothes to help the family after the fire.
Laura’s former colleagues at the charity Wilf Ward Family Trust – where she worked for nine years before becoming a stay-at-home mum – set up a GoFundMe page to support the family by donating money and items they need.
These include: duvets, household items, bedding, kitchen items, tables, a sofa and bunk bed.
“Money donated will be used towards food, shelter, clothes, homewares and other items the children may need,” the Go Fund Me page states.
To donate visit the Go Fund Me page titled: “Fire destroys family home leaving them with nothing” by Marsha Roworth.
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