Hooksett Woman Risks Life To Save Neighbors From Fire
Hooksett, N.H. - A family nearly slept through an enormous fire inside their home, but a brave and persistent neighbor risked her life to wake them up.
The fire destroyed the house, a barn and another building. It melted a fourth home and torched several cars.
The ferocious fire could have killed everyone inside, if it weren't for Mary Scott.
"I ran out and that's when I saw the building it was completely engulfed in flames," she said.
WBZ-TV's Laura Leamanczyk reports
The heat kept others away, but Mary says she didn't even feel it. She was determined to wake her neighbors up.
"I just kept screaming, 'Missy wake up, You've got to get out of here. Your house is on fire and I kept banging and banging and it didn't seem like I was rousing anybody so I grabbed a big rock and I threw it at the window," she told WBZ.
That rock finally woke Tom Yeaton and his family up. He says he couldn't hear the smoke detectors or the fire because the air conditioner was on. His wife and three children were also asleep. They escaped minutes before the house collapsed.
A day later the family is struggling to pick up the pieces, but they know Mary's bravery is the only reason they survived.
"I can't thank her enough. She saved my family," Yeaton said.
Tom's mother in law owns the property. She grew up there and is heartbroken, but she is grateful to her longtime friend who she calls a hero.
Mary doesn't think of it that way, but she shudders to think of what would have happened had she not thrown that rock.
"You just do what you got to do," she said.
The New Hampshire Fire Marshal is still investigating what caused the blaze. Neighbors say fire hydrants were not working and firefighters had to bring in water from somewhere else.
