THE PEOPLE of Sandown chipped in to help two boys, whose bags were stolen when they were alerting the emergency services about a fire.

Josh Paine and Joel Preston, both 13 and pupils the Bay CE School, Sandown, were presented with £400 to make up for their trainers and personal belongings being stolen.

They had been playing football with friends at Rainbow Park on Saturday (8) when they put out a small fire, then phoned 999 when they discovered a bigger one.

After helping to deal with the fires, they went to collect their bags but they were no longer there.

Josh's £110 white Adidas trainers had been stolen from his bag and Joel's whole bag was stolen — along with contents including an iPhone 5s and £150 trainers.

Hearing of their plight, Sandown Hub created a Just Giving page, which raised £400 within 24 hours.

Josh's mum Emma said: "Josh is overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of everyone and is incredibly grateful. He was quite shaken and upset by it all but I'm very proud of him."

Joel's mum Hayley said: "We as parents are so grateful and very proud of our children for doing the right thing."