Good Samaritan Rescues Elderly Woman From Burning Home In Chester
by Oren Lieberman
CHESTER, Pa. (CBS) -- An elderly woman was rescued from her burning home in Chester, Delaware County by a good samaritan on Sunday night.
The two-alarm fire broke out in the 1000 block of Central Avenue around 7:30 p.m.
Kenneth Wharton, a passerby, saw smoke coming from the home of 90-year-old Inez Jones and heard neighbors asking if anyone had seen the elderly occupant.
Wharton ran inside the two-story home which was engulfed in flames and got Jones out safely before firefighters arrived on scene.
"I'll do it again if I have to," said Wharton. "Just look at her," he said, gesturing to the woman he rescued, "that's somebody's mother there."
Officials and neighbors who shot the fire on their phones, afraid to get too close, are calling Wharton a hero. They say had he hesitated, the woman may not have survived.
"I didn't know what was happening," said Jones. "I didn't know there was a fire."
But her neighbors knew she was in there and needed help getting out. The fire started on the first floor. Inez was on the second. Help came just in time. Firefighters say they put the flames out in minutes once they arrived. Inez did not have minutes.
"She deserves it," said Wharton. "She deserves to live another day."
In a city known more for crime than courage or compassion, heroism still lives.
And so does Inez Jones.
