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Grandma thanks fire 'heroes' who rescued family

Grace WoodYorkshire
BBC A small blonde woman wearing a black vest top and gold jewellery hugs a young man in a black hoodie with short curly black hair and a short beard another young man with black hair wearing a T-shirt stands beside them.BBC
Sheila Robinson, Mohsin Qayyum and Mohammed Yusuf Iqbal reunited three weeks after the fire

A grandma who was saved from a fire by two young men who happened to be driving past has described them as "my heroes".

Sheila Robinson, 77, said she was "terrified" by the fire, which started in the garden of her house in Kirkstall, Leeds, on 19 June, and took two crews to extinguish.

West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service said the fire on Lea Farm Road had spread from the fence to the garage because a "combustible article" was too close to a controlled fire.

"I can't thank them enough, ever for what they did, absolutely brilliant. They probably saved my home and my grandson," said Robinson .

Mohsin Qayyum, 22, from Leeds, and Muhammed Yusuf Iqbal, 20, from Bradford, were driving past the house when they spotted the fire and a man trying to put it out with a hose.

Robinson said she thought the men deserved medals.

"I'm forever grateful. If I ever win the lottery, you'll be the first I treat," she said.

"They were absolutely brilliant."

Two young men with black hair and beards stand in front of a fence.
Mohsin Qayyum and Mohammed Yusuf Iqbal stopped to help the family

The fire started on Robinson's birthday, near a wooden fence outside the family's garden.

It spread to the hedge and was coming towards the house when Qayyum and Iqbal stopped to help.

Robinson described them as "braver than brave".

"They ran over this roof and the shed, everything was in flames," she said.

"My grandson burnt his hand, just a little. We didn't think it was too bad at first but as they days have gone on it's blistered and burst.

"I never want to go through it again as long as I live."

The side of a semi-detached house with fire damage to the white porch and shed. There is waste strewn across the garden.
The fire caused damage to the garden, shed and porch

The men ran across the garage roof and knocked down the garden fences to help Robinson, her husband and 14-year-old grandson leave safely.

The fire service then arrived to put out the remaining flames.

The men - who have since been invited to visit a fire station near Manchester - said they did not stop to help for the praise but because it seemed like the right thing to do.

"I just did anything anyone would do to help, to be honest," said Yusuf.

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