Joel Keates couldn’t believe what he saw when he looked out the window
Joel Keates couldn’t believe what he saw when he looked out the window
A teenager ran to rescue his elderly neighbour after hearing screams in the early hours.
Joel Keates ordered a McDonald’s from his bedroom in the early hours of Friday, April 4, when he hear screaming coming from outside.
He ran down the stairs and outside to see smoke billowing out the windows of the house where his elderly neighbours live as flames took control.
Without thinking twice, the 17-year-old rang the fire service and ran to wake up his dad and step-mum, Dean Keates and Emily Haddock, for help.
The family managed to get their neighbour to safety and nobody was seriously injured.
Remarkably, the entire incident was recorded by their Ring doorbell, with the terrifying footage showing Joel running to respond to his neighbour’s screams before calling for help as smoke filled the air on the Altrincham street, the Manchester Evening News reports.
“It was around 2am, and I’d ordered a McDonald’s to the house because I’d just broken up for the Easter holidays,” Joel said.
“So I was sat up in my room and I heard screaming so I went to have a look.
“It was pretty obvious there was a fire, there was smoke coming out of the windows and the roof – the house hadn’t gone up in flames since but it did soon after.”
The sixth-former, who is preparing for his B-tec exams, said he left his house and just thought ‘go’: “I didn’t really have a second thought,” he added. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Once his neighbour was brought to safety, Joel said she was ‘very shaken up’ and asked him to sit with her as he went to get her blankets and a coat.
“I don’t think the realisation of what happened has really hit me yet,” he said. “It’s still not fully in my head that that’s what I went and did.”
Step-mum Emily said the family are “extraordinarily proud” of Joel’s quick thinking. “We’ve lived there for six years, and it’s an elderly neighbour who we know pretty well,” she said. “We’re extraordinarily proud of him and how brave he was.
“He initially thought someone was being stabbed, so he was so brave to even come out and see what was going on.
“As you can see in the video, without a second thought he just ran to help. We’re very proud of him.”
