A 97-year-old woman was evacuated from her burning home by a group of bystanders and neighbors who carried her out of the house in her living room chair when a fire broke out. Shortly afterward, one of her rescuers suffered a cardiac arrest in the driveway across the street.
Lariana Garvis, a bystander, filmed the entire incident, which occurred Friday in Nashua, New Hampshire. Garvis informed WMUR she was passing by the residence when she noticed the windows blown out from the flames. Immediately after, another driver and a neighbor forced open the door and rescued the elderly woman from her living room—still seated in her chair.
Photos From The Actual Video Footage Of The Rescue Of An Elder Woman During A House Fire
(Photo: California News Times)
Woman Was Rescued Unharmed
In the footage, Garvis can be heard yelling, “we got you,” as she sprinted toward the house fire. From the outside, the flames from within the house were evident as they streamed out of the shattered windows. Two people emerged at the doorway carrying the old woman in her green velvet chair. The rescuers moved the woman across the street and also made sure her dog escaped unharmed.
All appeared well, and that is when the confusion picked up again in the video as one of the neighbors who helped rescue the woman collapsed. Garvis asked the rescue group who were now surrounding one of the neighbors if he was fine. One of the witnesses was observed on the phone while the other two supported the man’s weight as he fainted. When the firefighters arrived, they informed the onlookers that the man had gone into cardiac arrest.
Garvis Administered CPR
Garvis inquired if the man was breathing before discarding her phone and started performing compressions in the video. Garvis continued the CPR right up until the emergency medical technicians took the man away by ambulance. Garvis encouraged the man that he would not die at that moment as he just saved a woman from her imminent death, Garvis told WMUR. The victim was subsequently transferred to a nearby hospital, where he is currently healing.
Although the man’s identity has not been recognized, but Garvis told WMUR she spoke to him Saturday, and he is doing well. However, he does not have a memory of what has transpired during the incident. Garvis recalled the entire event was frightening but that everyone was there at the right moment.
It is still unknown what ignited the fire inside the woman ’s house, and the investigation is still underway.
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