'We're so proud of our heroine Katie'

Hero Katie (14) was awoken by a smoke alarm while staying at her nannan’s on Saturday night.

After seeing the flames outside the window, she roused her nine-year-old cousin Chloe White and then kicked down a locked bedroom door to save 80-year-old Katherine Whitehead.

When the three of them were safely out of the house in Fitzwilliam Road, Eastwood, Katie called 999 and ran to the next house.

After banging on the door to wake them too, she helped neighbour Margaret Halliwell out with her three children, a five-year-old girl and twin boys aged three.

Mrs Whitehead, who is hard of hearing and did not hear the alarm, said: “Without Katie I might not be here.

“She was very, very calm and there was no telling her what to do, she did it all off her own back. She helped me and Chloe outside and went back to phone the fire brigade.

“It could have been a lot, lot worse if she hadn’t react the way she did.

“Katie’s quite a shy and quiet young girl, but she’s really deserving of all the praise she’s been getting this week.”

Wingfield College pupil Katie, who stays with her grandmother every weekend, said: “It was about half past three when the alarm went off. I looked outside the window and saw the flames.

“I woke Chloe up, kicked my nannan’s door down and then rang 999. I woke up the people next door and that’s when the fire engines came.

“The station is just up the road so they arrived really quickly.”

She added: “It was scary, but I didn’t really think about it at the time, I just did it. Lots of people have been saying well done to me this week.”

Proud parents Lynne and Tony Hickling, of Broom Riddings, Greasbrough, said that they dreaded to think what might have happened without Katie’s actions.

“She was the only one who heard the alarm,” said Lynne (51). “After she saw the flames she knew she had to get everyone out.

“I dread to think what might have happened if Katie hadn’t reacted like she did.

“She only turned 14 in May, but she took everything in her stride, it was all automatic to her.”

The shed in next door’s garden and both houses were ablaze when the firefighters arrived in the early hours on Saturday.

Watch manager Chris Clegg, from Rotherham station, said: “We could have been dealing with two much bigger house fires if the young girl hadn’t woken when she did, and called 999.

“And had it not been for the smoke alarms which SYFR had fitted, this fire could have had terrible consequences.”

The fire caused damage to external fittings and windows of the semi-detached houses, and there was smoke damage inside. All seven people at the scene were treated for smoke inhalation.

Investigations by South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue have so far proved inconclusive. A police investigation has also been launched.

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