Hero wakes residents to two fires
Published: May 10, 2007
Rod Brown doesn’t consider himself a hero.
He says he did what anyone else would have done.
What he did was rouse two elderly couples from bed early Wednesday morning.
Their houses on L Street were on fire.
Brown, who was on his way home from his job at Gnat’s Landing, a St. Simons Island restaurant, got the couples outside just before the fire engulfed their residences and spread to two nearby businesses.
“When I saw the flames coming from the houses, it occurred to me there could be people inside,” he said. “So I parked my car and got out.”
Brown said he was driving on L Street at about 1 a.m. when he noticed smoke clouding the road and a crowd beginning to congregate where L Street crosses Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
That’s when he realized that the houses at 1403 and 1405 L St., which are side by side, were burning.
“I immediately ran over to one of the houses and started knocking on the door until an elderly man answered,” Brown said. “He had been asleep in the other room and had no idea his home was burning.”
The man told Brown that his wife also lived in the house and that she was still asleep in their bedroom.
“I rushed in, woke her up, and practically pushed her out the door,” Brown said. “Then I ran back to the other house.”
Another elderly couple was sleeping in their bedroom, unaware their home was being consumed by flames.
“I almost had to knock the door down before a man answered the door,” Brown said. “I had to go wake up his wife, too, and then practically pull them out.”
Minutes later, both houses were completely engulfed in flames and black smoke.
“I feel bad (for the two couples, whose names were not immediately available) because they sat and watched their homes burn down,” Brown said. “But I’m just glad nobody got hurt.”
The fire, which city fire officials say began in an area between the two houses, spread into the attics of a nearby nightclub, Mr. J’s, and a liquor store, R and S Liquors, damaging both.
Brunswick firefighters received the call at 1:27 a.m. and arrived at the scene at 1:32 a.m. They called for backup help and were joined by Glynn County firefighters and several engines.
The two houses were already fully engulfed in flames when the firefighters arrived.
It took the firefighting crews several hours to extinguish the blaze, Brunswick Fire Marshall Jose Juarbe said.
“It was very windy when we got there, and once the fire reached the attic (of the house next to Mr. J’s), it traveled across,” Juarbe said. “The only reason R and S Liquors was saved is because (Mr. J’s) is a brick structure.”
The two houses were constructed of what firefighter’s call “fat lighter timber,” which is heavy pine containing a large amount of turpentine, Juarbe said.
“Once that kind of timber is on fire, it continues to burn,” he said.
Firefighters said the cause of the fire was still under investigation Wednesday afternoon.
Officials estimated total damage to the two businesses at $120,000 and structural damage to the two houses at $69,000.
Elijah Thompson, who lives in a house behind R and S liquors, was asleep when he was awakened by a loud noise.
“I heard a big boom and then I saw all the fire truck lights through my window curtain,” he said.
Thompson said the noise startled him and caused him to fall out of his bed, hurting his shoulder.
“I’m all right, though,” he said, shrugging his left shoulder. “I’m just glad they put it out … .”
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