Neighbors in Wigston, England, were hailed as “super heroes” after rescuing an 87-year-old great-grandmother from her burning home last Thursday night. The dramatic rescue was aided by the woman's daughter, who provided crucial instructions via her mother's doorbell camera.
Phyllis Day, who has Alzheimer's disease and hearing issues, was asleep in her home without her hearing aids when neighbors noticed flames erupting from the back of her house. The doorbell camera footage shows some neighbors attempting to alert her by banging on the front door.
“You need to come out. There’s a fire,” one neighbor told Suzanne Wright, Day's daughter, believing Wright was inside the home. Wright, who was at her own house about five miles away, was monitoring her mother’s doorbell camera and responded to the alert.
Wright quickly directed the neighbors to a key safe located by the back gate and provided the code. Two neighbors, identified as Pav Sarpal, 28, and Stephan Smart, 44, were able to gain entry and went inside.
Upon entering, Sarpal and Smart were met with heavy smoke. Smart described the scene as 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.” They located Day in her bedroom and woke her, gently helping her out of bed and guiding her out of the house as the fire department arrived on the scene.
Wright, who cares for her mother full-time, watched the unfolding events remotely, experiencing terror when the video feed was temporarily lost. “At one point I lost visual and could just hear shouting and screaming, it was terrifying,” she said. “Luckily it came back on and I could see Mom being led by the arm outside.”
Day has lived alone since her husband died in 2018. Her daughter believes her mother, who typically removes her hearing aids at night, was unaware of the fire due to her hearing impairment.
Fire officials are investigating the cause of the blaze, with an electrical fault in the kitchen or utility room considered a possibility. The fire caused significant damage to the three-bedroom home. Day has since moved in with her daughter.
Leicester Fire and Rescue Service commended the neighbors' bravery but cautioned the public against entering burning buildings.