An eight-year-old has been praised for his calmness after he called 999 and successfully guided fire crews to a burning neighbour’s house.

Cody Peterson was asked to call emergency services by his parents while they rushed to try to help their neighbours after a blaze broke out in their home in Watford.

“Amazing” Cody knew exactly what to do, kept his cool, and guided the emergency services to the location of the fire, where three crews fought the flames.

The incident happened at around 7pm on 18 March and saw Cody show “incredible presence of mind”, according to Hertfordshire County Council’s chief fire officer Darryl Keen.

He said: “Under the pressures of an emergency such as this we have many callers who find it difficult to relay this information accurately, but Cody was amazing. He should be extremely proud of himself.”

Fortunately, the burning home’s resident had been outside at the time and was later found safe.

Cody’s parents, Jo and Ray Peterson, had rushed over to the property with a fire extinguisher and crowbar, but quickly found the fire to be too severe for them to face.

“We were all panicking, apart from Cody really. He just took it all in his stride,” said Mrs Peterson. “We’ve always made him aware of what to do in an emergency, but he’s never had to put it into practice until that night.

“He was really calm. When I came back a few minutes later, he was still on the phone – and was still chatting to them and telling them what was going on.

“We were really, really proud of him that night, so proud of him.”

Cody, of Cardiff Road, Watford, was presented with a “certificate of excellence” by the fire service following his call.

Mr Keen added: “Cody’s superb skills when making the call showed a maturity beyond his years and impressed us with how calmly he listened and answered our questions in what was a potentially life-threatening situation.

“He was able to provide us with an address and exactly what had happened so far, what he could see and that both his mum and dad had gone to help but were away from the fire.”

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