Glengormley man’s heroic baby rescue
Paul Lamb who rescued a neighbour's year old baby from a house fire in Glengormley. INLT 05-401-RM
A GLENGORMLEY man has said “anyone would do the same to save a life” after he helped to rescue a baby from a house fire in the Hightown area.
The fire broke out in the Hollybrook Avenue home of a young woman and her year-old son in the early hours of this morning (Thursday, January 26).
Neighbour Paul Lamb said he was roused from his sleep around 4am when he heard screaming.
He told the Times: “At first I thought it was an argument and actually tried to get back to sleep.
“But it kept going on and on and I got up and saw the woman hanging out her window and the house on fire.”
The 31-year-old ran round to the back of the neighbouring house where, by this stage, the 18-year-old mother was holding her baby out of the second storey window.
Paul continued: “I tried to calm her down and she told me to catch the baby and I said ‘ok’.
“It was a real hit or miss shot, I said to her to drop him straight down not sideways or anything, just straight and I would catch him and I did.”
Paul, a fitness instructor, added: “Anyone would do the same, people talk about heroes, but faced with the same situation anyone would do what I did - you just don’t think about what is going on.”
The Fire Service said the blaze had started in the hallway of the home.
Firefighters, using breathing apparatus, entered the dwelling to rescue the mother whose escape had been blocked by the flames.
The mother and her child, along with the baby’s grandfather who was asleep on the ground floor of the home when the fire broke out, were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation before being taken to hospital.
All are thought to be recovering well and have no major injuries.
Assistant Group Commander for the Fire and Rescue Service, David Heyburn, urged the public to check their fire alarms, know where their keys are at night and plan a route out of their homes in case of a fire.
He said: “The family were very fortunate to escape with only smoke inhalation, this could have been a lot worse.”
Read the full story in next week’s Newtownabbey Times...
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Newtownabbey
Thursday 23 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 3 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: West
