With the help of a heroic passerby, a Beloit family is safe after a fire broke out in their house.
“They did something that’s above and beyond what we would expect anybody to do,” Beloit Deputy Fire Chief Joe Murray said.
The house may be in ruins, but the people who live inside are safe, thanks to one man risking his life and rushing into action.
“I didn’t even think of that, it was more, she said there was people in there,” Brian Brewster, the Good Samaritan, said. “Human nature I guess, ran in there and helped them out.”
Beloit firefighters say someone had been smoking, the embers caught the porch on fire and flames spread quickly.
That was when Brewster saw it.
“I ran to the back door, I was gonna knock but a lady came running out and said there was more people in the house, so I just ran right in the house,” Brewster said.
He first carried out a man who had trouble moving.
As soon as Brewster found out there were even more people stuck upstairs, he went to the back of the house to catch the remaining residents off the roof.
“I got a baby and two other adults off the back,” Brewster said. “I’m just glad everybody was okay.”
The Beloit Fire Department says Brewster helped rescue six people in all.
Normally he wouldn’t have been in the area, he was stopping by his brother’s house for some tools to work on his car.
“Makes me glad I was. He was looking down on all of us today,” Brewster said as he looked toward the sky. “That’s the best feeling right there.”
Murray says while it was a courageous act, firefighters don’t encourage putting yourself in harm’s way.
“If it’s a situation where they can get in and make that rescue, we don’t promote people doing that,” Murray said. “If they’re willing to do so then as long as they can safely do it.”
However, he says the story would have been different had Brewster not been there.
“Had it not been for them we would be here talking about a different situation, like a fatality or a serious injury,” Murray said.
The Beloit Fire Department says it is organizing an opportunity to recognize Brewster with an award.
BELOIT (WKOW) — A Beloit family escaped their burning home Friday morning thanks to quick action by a passerby.
The Beloit Fire Department was called to a fire about 8:45 a.m. Friday in a single family home in the 1000 block of Tenth Street.
Upon arrival the front porch was fully engulfed with fire.
The fire was first noticed by a person driving through the alley. He went to the home and helped pull a male adult, who had limited mobility, and a child out from the first floor of the home.
Two adults and two children were trapped on the second floor. The man caught the two children who jumped out from the second floor window and the adults then escaped from the second floor.
No injuries were reported to the Beloit Fire Department at the scene.
Two more passers by helped the family prior to police and fire arrival.
The fire caused an estimated $67,500 in damage. The cause of the fire was carelessly discarded smoking materials, according to a fire department news release.
For more go to WKOW: https://wkow.com/news/2018/10/12/passerby-helps-family-escape-from-burning-beloit-home/