Published: Wednesday, 23rd July, 2008 12:00
Fire heroes rescue OAP
By Lorraine Tinney
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TO THE RESCUE: Have-a-go heroes, from left, David McGahey, Brian Thomson and Steven Murray.
Pic by: George Munro
A HAVE-A-GO heroes stepped in to save an elderly man after a blaze in his Greenock home yesterday.
Brian Thomson and his pals, who had been driving up Bow Road hill, swung into action when they saw flames billowing from the house in Iona Street at around 5pm.
Brian and his pals, David McGahey and Steven Murray, both 21, went to the aid of the 83-year-old, who had tried to put the chip pan fire out himself. They called the fire brigade before later comforting the victim.
Brian, 20, said: “The man was dazed and startled and he didn’t know what to do.
“He had put a wet towel over the pan but I think the fire had already taken hold.
“His hair was singed and you could still see smoke coming from his head.”
The pensioner was led into an ambulance and taken to Inverclyde Royal Hospital.
Brian also alerted an elderly woman who lived upstairs, but she was reluctant to come out of her home.
He got a community warden who eventually coaxed the lady into the street and she was taken in by a neighbour.
Brian said: “She didn’t want to come out. I kept shouting: ‘It’s not safe’, but she looked at me as if to say ‘I’m not going anywhere with him.’
She was probably wary because I was a young guy just turning up at her door. But the lady warden finally got her out. Then she wanted to go back for her wee dog.”
A spokesperson for Strathclyde Fire and Rescue said: “We were called to a house fire within a two-storey building on Iona Street just before 5pm with persons reported to be in the building.
“The fire caused extensive damage to the kitchen of a ground-floor flat.
“All persons within the house were safely taken out and one man was taken to hospital suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation.”
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Man, 23, fighting for life
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