Babysitter led children to safety

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/essex/8065721.stm

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A teenage girl babysitter calmly led her brothers and sister to safety after a fire broke out in the kitchen of their Essex home on Saturday night.

Crews returning from dealing with a grass fire spotted smoke coming from the house on Alefounder Close in Colchester and went to investigate.

The teenage girl's 12-year-old brother had alerted her to a smoke alarm.

She led him and two sisters aged 12 and six out of the mid-terrace house, winning praise from fire crews.

The 15-year-old girl had closed doors in the house to contain the fire and then raised the alarm.

Two of the children suffered the effects of smoke inhalation. Firefighters administered oxygen at the scene while waiting for ambulance service paramedics to arrive. The youngsters were checked over and did not need hospital treatment.

'Stayed calm'

"[The 12-year-old boy] was alerted by a smoke alarm and at first thought it was the TV," said station officer Costa Olymbiossaid.

"But he had his wits about him and checked around the house and saw it was a fire. Then he and his sister... did absolutely the right thing.

"They got their sisters out of the house and closed the doors on the way through to prevent spread and quickly went a few doors down the street to their grandmother to raise the alarm.

"They stayed calm and behaved sensibly and deserve a lot of praise for their actions."