Man Dies Despite Neighbor Rushing In To Drag Him From Burning Pepperell Home
PEPPERELL (CBS) - A Pepperrell man died early Thursday morning, days after he was pulled from his burning home by a neighbor who sprung into action.
A 911 call just before 10:30 p.m. Tuesday sent firefighters to 58 Mill Street -- where they discovered the caller had done a lot more than just pick up the phone.
As workers boarded up the house Wednesday night, neighbor Sean Sullivan sat across the street watching in the same spot he had grabbed a cigarette just before bedtime the night before.
It was Sullivan who heard a smoke detector beeping across the street, realized smoke was pouring from the house of Jim Farmer, and called 911.
But he also suspected his 70-something neighbor was still in there. So, he threw open the door and found him -- weak and incoherent.
"'Hey buddy, your house is on fire!' I said that a couple of times," Sullivan said. "I tried to help him up, but he couldn't get up. He's a pretty big guy, so I just dragged him out."
Police and firefighters arrived within a minute or two.
Though Farmer died early Thursday morning at Mass General, Fire Chief Brian Borneman said Sullivan's attempted life-saving actions were impressive.
"Seconds matter," said Borneman. "Definitely hats off to him. He stepped up and did something to help out prior to us getting there."
Sullivan said going in was the only choice.
"Of course," Sullivan says shaking his head. "I'm not gonna let him burn in there. He'd do the same for us, I'm sure."
Borneman believes the cause of the fire will turn out to be electrical.
