Boy battles with fire

Press, 27 December 1986, Page 1

Boy battles with fire

By

GRANT BRADLEY

, Tobias Becroft, aged 12, crawled into a blazing bedroom with a garden hose to keep a fire at bay in his Spreydon house yesterday.

He braved smoke and fumes and trained the hose on the fire which was racing ’ through his brother’s bedroom. He was eventually made to leave by his mother. “I was lying on the floor and squirting it at the wall until Mum came in and got me,” said 1 Tobias. “I wanted to stop the house burning down be-

cause the fire brigade wasn’t there.”

Two engines arrived about five minutes after being called. The fire was quickly put out and caused only superficial damage to the bedroom.

Tobias Becroft was awakdned by his mother after his brother, Francis, had raised the alarm when smoke and flames filled his room.

Once outside, Tobias grabbed a garden hose and ran back to the bedroom to fight the blaze while Ms Evelyn Becroft ran across the road to call

the Fire Service. Tobias said he nearly put the fire out and was not scared. He had learned at scouts about fire-fighting techniques and the importance of keeping low to avoid smoke.

"I wouldn’t mind being a fireman,” he said. While Tobias was at one end of the Hawford Road house fighting the blaze, nis sister, Aurora, aged 10, dashed into the back to take the family’s budgie and two pet rats to safety and to make sure two cats were outside.

Although the fire caused only minor damage, Francis lost several Christmas presents, books, clothes, and half a set of encyclopaedias.

Ms Becroft said Tobias was not in great danger while fighting the fire because he was close to an outside door and she knew exactly where he was. She was proud of the way her children had reacted, although it would probably take some time for the shock of what had happened to sink in.

The cause of the fire was unknown.