Teen schoolboy a hero after saving mother-of-three as fire engulfs Tailem Bend home
A 16-year-old boy is being hailed a hero for rescuing a mother-of-three from a massive fire at Tailem Bend that engulfed her home.
SA News
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The passer-by, who rescued an unconscious woman from her burning house in Tailem Bend has been identified as 16-year-old Murray Bridge schoolboy, Sean Williams.
On Thursday evening at around 5.45pm, emergency vehicles were called to the house on Lime Kiln Rd to find it complete engulfed in flames.
Sean, who was in a car with his grandmother at the time, sprung to action, jumping out of the car after noticing the house on fire and pulling an unconscious woman from the flames.
The woman has been identified as Marilyn Hales, a 42-year-old mother-of-three, who had been home alone at the time while her children were staying with relatives.
Sean said he found Ms Hales lying on the floor and after safely removing her from the fire, went back to try to extinguish the fire with a garden hose.
Ms Hales is currently in an induced coma, expected to recover.
The teen responsible for saving the woman’s life said his actions were simply “natural instinct”.
“Me and my nan went to go drop off my uncle’s dog at the dog sitters and I’ve seen the house up in black smoke and told her to pull over (and said) ‘let’s have a look’, just in case someone was in the house, which there was,” he said.
“I jumped out of the car and rushed there as fast as possible over to her, because she was on the ground unconscious, to get her out of there as safely as possible.
“It was covered in black smoke, coming out the front door, all the windows, out the back – it was just covered in smoke, you couldn’t see the house much.
“And once I got to the front door, you couldn’t really see anything, it was just pitch black.”
Ms Hales’ mother, Gay Hales, said she was overwhelmed with gratitude toward her daughter’s rescuer.
“You’re my hero,” she said.
“Words cannot explain how I feel, without his help I probably would have been going to the cemetery another funeral.
“He deserves a medal for what he’s done – for a person his age, it’s remarkable.
“There’s other people, older people, that would just freeze and not know what to do.”
Ms Hales was taken to Murray Bridge Hospital before being flown to Royal Adelaide Hospital, where she remains in an induced coma.
She is believed to have suffered burns to her airway and smoke inhalation.
“It’s a negative that the house has burned down but it’s a positive that she’s going to be fine,” Gay Hales said of her daughter.
Emergency services were called to the Lime Kiln Rd property about 5.45pm on Thursday and arrived to find it fully alight.
Ms Hales was treated by emergency services at the scene before Medstar and special operations paramedics were dispatched to the scene.
A man who was among the first on the scene said at least two people had emerged from the home after the blaze took hold.
“The female did not look good … she wasn’t moving too well and she was completely black, covered in soot,” he said.
“She was laying on the ground in a paddock across the road and another guy didn’t look good either.”
Six CFS crews, with 24 firefighters were supported by SA Police and SA Ambulance.
No cause has yet been identified and fire investigators are continuing to assess the scene.
Losses have been estimated at about $150,000.
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