'I'm so proud' - Wrexham icon's son rescues old lady from house fire at 2am (2025)

Joel Keates, son of two-time Wrexham AFC manager Dean, jumped into action when he heard screams in the early hours – calling the fire brigade immediately, waking up his dad and rescuing his neighbour

The son of a former Wrexham AFC manager rescued an elderly neighbour from a house fire in the middle of the night. Joel Keates was in his bedroom in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, ordering a 2am McDonald's delivery on Friday when he heard screams coming from outside.

The 17-year-old raced downstairs to see smoke pouring out the windows of his elderly neighbour's home as a blaze took hold. Joel immediately called the fire brigade before running back into his house and waking step-mum Emily Haddock and dad Dean Keates, who managed Wrexham twice.

Dean, who took part in the first season of Welcome to Wrexham and also played 160 times for the club, wrote: "I couldn’t be anymore proud of my son and his brave actions."

The family jumped into action and managed to get their neighbour to safety without anyone being seriously injured. The heroic incident was captured on Dean and Emily's Ring doorbell camera. The terrifying footage shows Joel running to respond to his neighbour's screams before returning home and calling for help, as thick smoke fills up the air.

"It was around 2am, and I'd ordered a McDonald's to the house because I'd just broken up for the Easter holidays," Joel told the Manchester Evening News.

"So I was sat up in my room and I heard screaming so I went to have a look. It was pretty obvious there was a fire, there was smoke coming out of the windows and the roof – the house hadn't gone up in flames since but it did soon after."

The sixth-former, who is preparing for his B-tec exams, said he left his house and just thought 'go': "I didn't really have a second thought," he added. "I don't know what I was thinking."

Once his neighbour was brought to safety, Joel said she was "very shaken up" and asked him to sit with her as he went to get her blankets and a coat. "I don't think the realisation of what happened has really hit me yet," he said. "It's still not fully in my head that that's what I went and did."

Step-mum Emily Haddock told how the family are "extraordinarily proud" of Joel's quick thinking. "We've lived there for six years, and it's an elderly neighbour who we know pretty well," she said. "We're extraordinarily proud of him and how brave he was.

"He initially thought someone was being stabbed, so he was so brave to even come out and see what was going on. As you can see in the video, without a second thought he just ran to help. We're very proud of him."

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