A man who was himself recovering from a serious motorcycle injury helped several other people escape a house fire in an Alberta hamlet southeast of Edmonton early Monday morning.
Firefighters were called to a mobile home fire in New Sarepta but by the time they arrived, flames were erupting high into the sky.
“The trailer in the middle there was fully involved,” Leduc County Fire Chief Keven Lefebvre told Global News. “Vehicles were burning, there was popping from propane tanks and tires and everything else, thick black smoke. It wasn’t a pretty sight at 2:30 in the morning.”
Two men were inside the mobile home at the time of the fire. Both have been sent to hospital.
“One was airlifted by STARS to hospital with some burns and one was sent by ground ambulance for a dislocated shoulder,” Lefebvre said.
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Neighbour John Taylor, who was injured in a motorcycle accident last August and was in a wheelchair until last Wednesday, saw the flames from across the way and didn’t hesitate to act. He called 911 and then ran over to pull the first man to safety.
“I just didn’t even think about it. He’s there. He needs help and pretty soon it’s going to be too hot to go help him.
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“I did what anybody would do,” Taylor said. “I just grabbed him and brought him back here and sat him on my porch.”
Taylor said the heat from the fire intensified very quickly.
“I came across the other fellow from the house who had jumped out the back window and I went and grabbed him,” he said. “I had to fight with him the whole way over here. He was so in shock. He tried to get back in the house. He wanted to save his motorcycle.
“People, whether you know them or not, they’re not replaceable. Somebody cares about everybody. So, you just do what you have to do.”
Watch below: A blaze in New Sarepta, Alta., early Monday morning destroyed one mobile home and damaged two others. Courtesy: Hughie Cull.
Taylor also helped get the second man to safety and made sure everyone in the two neighbouring homes got out.
“It was good to see the two men outside and be able to confirm that there was nobody else inside,” Lefebvre said. “That way, our firefighters aren’t risking themselves going inside when there’s nobody else.”
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The fire destroyed the main trailer, seriously damaged one to the west side, and a third, on the other side, sustained exterior damage.
New Sarepta is located about 50 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.
— More to come…
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