Hero student saves neighbours from Brighton house fire

Polly Booth was still awake at 2.30am studying for her masters degree when she heard the faint noise of a smoke alarm.

The 24-year-old almost dismissed the sound as an alarm clock but then went outside and spotted a fire had started in the kitchen of her neighbour Philip Parker, who lives with his mother Ann.

Polly, of Bevendean Crescent, Brighton, said: “At first it was just smoke coming from a pan on the cooker but it was quickly filling the kitchen.

“I hammered on their front door and shouted through the letter box but there was no response.

“In the end I jumped over the garden wall and banged on the patio doors with a broom, trying to smash them.”

Inside, Philip and his mother were asleep unaware of the smoke filling the air.

Eventually Philip woke up and let Polly in.

Polly said: “He looked very dazed and not sure what was happening. By this time the fire had spread to the extractor fan and onto the ceiling.”

Six years ago Polly helped stop a fire at her parents’ home in Cheshire.

She said: “I know how quickly fire can spread so I soaked rags and clothes in water and threw it over the flames.

“I then filled the washing up bowl and threw the water over the extractor fan.”

Philip, 45, said he and his 68-year-old mother “wouldn't be here anymore” if it wasn't for Polly.

He said: “I felt like I had no idea what to do or what was going on and she just took control and ordered me upstairs to get my mum.

“If it wasn't for that my mum may not have survived.”

Firefighters attended yesterday’s blaze before Polly and Philip, a civil servant, were taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton suffering from smoke inhalation. Ann was kept in suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning but was later released.

Brighton Fire Station watch manager Richard Chamberlain said: "Polly probably saved their lives. They owe their lives to this girl.

“She deserves recognition for putting her own safety at risk to save them."