Family track down ‘amazing’ man who dragged their loved one from Chesterfield house fire

The woman and her dog Millie were dragged out of their burning home on Whittington Hill in Old Whittington at about 5pm on Sunday (6 December) by a man who then got back into his van and left the scene.

He contacted the woman’s niece, 23-year-old Keeley Allen from Longley in Sheffield, following a widely shared Facebook appeal.

Keeley said: “He said ‘I only did what anyone else would have done’. I did ask him if there’s anything we can do at all for him for his bravery but he just said we didn’t need to thank him.

"It’s so heartwarming that someone could go out of their way, see something like that happening and risk their own life.”

She added: “It’s amazing to risk his own life knowing he’s got a little family at home.

"I’m just thankful everyone came out safe and he said he didn’t have a scratch on him. I told my aunt and she was relieved.”

Keeley also thanked the two care workers who helped her aunt after the man left.

She said: “If it wasn’t for them doing that and talking her round then who knows what could have happened?”

Keeley’s aunt is now recovering from minor injuries, including a burn, at a friend’s house, but parts of her home have been badly damaged.

She continued: “The living room is pretty much down to its bricks. My aunt said it was started by a candle she had just lit. Within seconds it spilt all over the curtains.

“Her friends have just been brilliant with her. She’s fine, she’s just shocked about the situation.”

Firefighters checking on the safety of neighbours following the blaze also discovered a “substantial” cannabis farm at one of the properties.

Keeley said: “When my aunt told me she said ‘My neighbours must hate me’.

"I do know the man who saved my aunt broke their door down as well.”

Anyone with information about the cannabis farm should contact Derbyshire police, quoting incident 20*644749.