Man ‘a hero’ for alarm call
A Palmerston North man has been called a hero after saving his neighbour from a life-threatening situation.
Brendan Worthington was woken on Saturday at 4.30am to the sound of a smoke alarm beeping from his neighbour’s house in Freyberg St.
Unknown to him at the time, his neighbour had come home and started cooking, but fallen asleep. Worthington said he walked out to investigate and could smell cooking, so knocked on the door but nobody answered.
He walked around the house to look into the kitchen and could see cooking, which was smoking, on the stove, but nobody around.
After trying to rouse the occupant one more time, he called 111.
‘‘It was the first time I’ve ever rung 111. You often worry if a situation is bad enough to warrant it.’’
But Palmerston North station officer Barry Madgwick said Worthington made the right call ringing them. When they arrived they were about to force entry into the house when the man woke up and let them in.
‘‘It was very close to ignition and if that had have happened you would have had a completely different situation. Quite easily this could have ended with loss of property and life.
‘‘In our eyes, Brendan is a hero. We need to celebrate the fact Brendan’s actions saved a life.’’ Several fires in New Zealand are caused by unattended cooking and Madgwick said it was good to see in this scenario there were working smoke alarms installed in the home.
Worthington said if it wasn’t for the fire campaign on unattended cooking he would have second guessed calling.
‘‘It heightened my awareness and I realised there was unattended cooking and I couldn’t get a response and I realised that was quite serious.’’
Landlord Cheryl Lentle said she had installed the second smoke alarm, which was the one that alerted Worthington, when the rules changed around how many smoke alarms were needed in rental properties.
‘‘At the time I thought this is going to cause a few problems, it’s a bit close to the kitchen.
‘‘[But] it would have been too long if Brendan had been woken up by the [other one].’’
She said this situation made her realise having the smoke alarms wasn’t just another box to tick as a landlord, but actually saved lives. ‘‘I never thought someone might die until this weekend.