Heroic Ramsgate boy, 15, saves younger sister and dog from house fire by closing door

  • ITV News Meridian's Sarah Saunders spoke to the teen about his heroic act.


A 15-year-old boy has been praised by the fire service after saving his family from a house fire.

Nick Bradfields woke up to flames in his bedroom and calmly raised the alarm while evacuating his sister and dog.

The fire started after the electric fan in his room malfunctioned and set alight.

He then stopped it from spreading by closing his bedroom door.

The destruction left behind in Nick's bedroom room meant that everything would need to be replaced - except the door.

Nick Bradfields said: "I was asleep in the bed and I woke up to flames coming out of the fan and I switched off the plug and got out and shut the door."

By shutting the door he stopped the smoke and flames from spreading.

This gave him time to wake up his 14-year-old sister, get the dog out of the house and call the fire brigade and his mother, who was out early walking their other dog.

His father Lee was on his way to work when he was informed about the incident.

He said: "I got the phone call you never ever want - 'turn around, the house is on fire'. I didn't know what to think.

"All you could hear was alarms, the sirens from fire engines and screaming. It was horrible because at that point, I still didn't know how bad it was."

The door was able to stop the fire from spreading and was the only thing in Nick Bradfields room to survive. Credit: ITV News Meridian

By the time Lee returned home - the fire service from Ramsgate had put out the blaze - and was full of praise for his son's quick and calm thinking.

He added: "Nick's quick thinking that morning limited the damage to that one room and stopped the fire in its tracks.

"As always in life it's the little things that are the most important. So as Nick did, shutting an internal door can hold a fire back from anything between 10 minutes and half an hour.


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