Hero rescues toddler from burning home
Published: August 24, 2006
PULLING a toddler out a burning house was the last thing Mark Withers expected to be doing as he sat down for a quiet beer.
However, the Bentley man yesterday risked his life to save a two-year-old caught in a raging inferno across the road from the Northern Rivers Hotel at North Lismore.
Mr Withers, who has been hailed as a hero by firefighters, rescued the boy from the Bridge Street home, which was completely gutted by the fire.
The 42-year-old was inside the hotel when he heard the beeping of smoke alarms and the piercing screams of the toddler’s mother.
Mr Withers immediately ran out on to the street and saw the 28year-old woman hysterically calling for help.
“I heard her scream that her kid was still in there,” he said.
“I went up the stairs of the house and found the kid standing in the front doorway.
“This is the last thing I expected to be doing today.”
The fire started in the kitchen about 10am, quickly destroying the timber home.
Firefighters took 15 minutes to get it under control.
The woman and her son were taken to Lismore Base Hospital.
The owner of the house, Tim Helm, had to watch from across the road as his property of 12 years was gutted.
He was going to the library with his kids when he saw smoke on the horizon.
“I thought ‘that looks like it could be my house’,” Mr Helm said.
Turning into Bridge Street, Mr Helm was horrified to find it was.
“It’s a pretty expensive barbe- cue and I’m the sponsor,” he said.
Two weeks earlier, Mr Helm had installed smoke alarms in the house to comply with new laws.
Fire station officer Geoffrey Peacock said the house would have to be demolished.
“These people may well owe their lives to the smoke alarms,” he said.
Mr Peacock commended Mark Withers’ efforts to save the child, saying it was a very heroic act.
Mr Withers doesn’t expect a reward for his deed, but suspects he might be due for some luck.
“I believe in karma and I think I’m about due,” he said.
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