5yo saves family from blaze
Published: June 23, 2005
A terrified five-year-old Sydney boy who woke his family moments before their home was engulfed by flames will be recommended for a bravery award.
Screaming as he ran through the smoke-filled house, kindergarten pupil Harry Haywood alerted his family to the blaze that destroyed their home at Tahmoor in south-western Sydney early today.
He woke his mother, Nicole Haywood, her boyfriend, Damon Cox, and his two sisters, Brittany, 9, and Brie, 7.
The family then fled the Hilton Park Drive home moments before the roof collapsed and the house became an inferno.
“His first instinct was to wake everyone up … he just knew he had to protect us,” Ms Haywood said.
“We all owe our lives to Harry.”
Ms Haywood, who was in the early stages of carbon monoxide poisoning, said she woke to hear Harry “screaming like I never heard before”.
She crawled on her hands and knees, feeling the walls, to the front door where her three children had gathered.
“The smoke in the lounge room was just so thick I couldn’t breathe,” she said.
“I heard each individual (child) screaming mummy outside and I knew they were out.
“In a matter of seconds the house just went.”
When Harry woke shortly after 2am (AEST), his room was choked with deadly smoke.
“I just got out of bed and I shut my eyes and ran to my sister’s room,” Harry said.
When asked what woke him, Harry replied: “The smoke.”
He said he was very scared.
Brittany said she was proud of her brother, saying he was “very brave”.
“He didn’t say anything, he just kept crying and screaming,” she said.
Ms Haywood said her son, who later seemed unruffled by the drama, was an “angel”.
Sergeant Barry Parish of Camden police said he would recommend Harry for a bravery award.
If granted, he will become the youngest ever recipient.
“His sole actions is what turns this tragedy of a family losing all their possessions into a good story,” Sgt Parish said.
A spokesman for the New South Wales Rural Fire Service said the fire had probably started in the roof of the house, which made it almost impossible to contain.
“A roof space heats up with a small fire and after a long time, and the residents might not even know it’s there, that space gets so hot it can spontaneously combust,” the spokesman said.
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Kidde 900-0102 Carbon Monoxide/Smoke AlarmThe spokesman stressed the need for smoke alarms in houses but said families needed to devise an evacuation plan as well.
“Children need to know how to get out of the house and they need to rehearse that plan,” he said.
The house was fitted with smoke alarms but investigators were still unsure why they did not wake the family, he said.
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