Despite having never met the man, Mohammed Aslam didn’t hesitate to plunge into a smoke-filled house to rescue his neighbour.
Mr Mohammed, who is Muslim, was taking part in daily prayers at his Bedford St house on April 28 when he heard the scream of the smoke alarm next door.
“I heard this alarm going on and we looked at the smoke inside the house and we knocked on all the windows and I thought that someone was inside the house.”
Mr Mohammed called the fire service and then, along with another resident, went through the unlocked front door into the thick smoke to find the occupant.
“The whole of the house was smoke,” he said.
“We knew someone’s there, and if the burning had gone on maybe a big fire would have started because the stove was still on.”
The occupant, Robert Thacker, was roused by their calls, and was found stumbling towards the door.
He was pulled from the house semi-conscious.
Mr Thacker, who is diabetic, does not remember much of what happened that evening but believes he would not have woken up if it was not for his neighbours.
He had been cooking soup on the stove for dinner when he slipped into a diabetic coma.
Passed out on the floor he was in serious danger from both plummeting blood sugar levels and the scorched pot burning on the stove.
“Knowing now, I’m lucky that someone came around. I’ve got to be grateful.”
Mr Thacker was treated at the scene by ambulance staff while firefighters cleared the house.
Wellington North Fire District safety officer Russell Postlewaight said the smoke alarm “did what it should have – and then it’s the actions of caring neighbours that responded to the smoke alarm”.
Their actions were commendable, he said. They called the fire service, got the neighbour out and kept themselves safe.
-KAPI MANA NEWS – BY KAROLINE TUCKEY
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