Teen 'hero' saves man from Gainsborough house fire

Charlie Wilkinson "safely guided" the pensioner out of his burning home, the teenager's mother said

A 14-year-old boy has been hailed a "hero" after rescuing an elderly man from a house fire in Lincolnshire.

Charlie Wilkinson helped the pensioner from his home on High Street in Blyton, near Gainsborough.

Charlie's mother, Kerry, said she was "blown away" by his actions after he "guided" the man out of the burning building.

Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue urged people to "never put themselves at risk" by entering a property on fire.

Ms Wilkinson said she was initially "shook up" when her son told what he had done.

"He came home and just said 'Mum, I've just saved a man from a house fire' and it just blows me away."

"We're just amazed with his courage. He's so brave and he's our hero," she said.

'Very, very scary'

Charlie was walking past the house when he saw flames coming from the property on Thursday.

After safely guiding the pensioner, known as Noel, out of the fire, Charlie phoned emergency services, Ms Wilkinson said.

"He said he knew he had to go in quickly because the room was ablaze and he had to manoeuvre around a fallen door frame, which was on fire, to get him out."

She said: "I was quite shook up at the time [when he told me].

"I've still got prickles on the back of my neck when I talk about it.

"It was very, very scary but the relief and the hug that I gave him afterwards - just there are no words that can describe it."

The blaze was at a house close to the Blyton Ice Cream parlour

The fire service said two crews were sent at about 16:30 to tackle the blaze, which had caused "severe fire damage" to the kitchen and smoke damage to the remainder of the detached house.

"The fire was caused when an oil-fuelled Aga was being repaired, oil had leaked on to kitchen floor and when the Aga was turned on it caught fire and spread to the oil spill."

Firefighters said they gave oxygen to the elderly man, who was out of the property when crews arrived.

Charlie's mother added: "He's just very modest and he's very overwhelmed by all the attention.

"We've got a little saying: 'not all heroes wear capes' and he just goes all coy when we tell him, bless him."