Mystery heroine risks life to rescue toddler from burning house

A woman risked her life to enter a blazing building and rescue a two-year-old boy.

CCTV footage shows the unidentified woman rushing into a blazing house in Tottenham to save Arafat Hassan, who was stranded inside.

The toddler was fighting for his life today in intensive care after suffering severe burns when the blaze swept through his family's terrace home in Antill Road yesterday afternoon.

The courageous woman was helped in the rescue by a paramedic and a chef from a nearby restaurant, who also ran into the blazing building.
Neighbours said she was driving past the house when she heard Arafat's pregnant mother screaming for help. The boy's father, Sadir Hassan, was apparently struggling to get inside, having been beaten back by the flames while helping other
people to get out of the house.

According to eyewitnesses, the woman, wearing blue jeans and a green vest top, leapt from her car and ran inside with little thought for her own safety.

She appeared moments later carrying the child and took him to a restaurant across the street. Josh Berkovits, a paramedic, also helped to get Arafat to safety and gave emergency medical treatment.

Mr Berkovits, 35, who works with Hatzola, a local ambulance service run by the Jewish community, cut off the boy's clothes, applied burns gel to his wounds and wrapped him in cling film to stop infection.

"The boy had burns to about 80 per cent of his body," said Mr Berkovits. "When we got him to the restaurant he stopped screaming. He had breathed in a lot of smoke so was very quiet."

The chef, Javier Fajardo-Toledo, 40, from Ecuador, said: "When the lady got the baby into the restaurant I tried to help but he was burnt very badly. The lady was really brave, she didn't think twice."

Four fire engines and 20 firefighters were called to the blaze, which destroyed the two-storey house. Today, the Hassan family, believed to be from Somalia, said the mystery woman was "amazing" but were too shocked to comment further.

Neighbour Matthew Miller said: "The little boy was so badly burned, all over his face and arms, but he was totally quiet.

"What all three people did was amazingly brave, they are heroes. Most people just wouldn't."