You often wonder how youโd react in a life-threatening situation, but not many people actually get to experience it for themselves. If you saw a burning building in front of you, would you run in to save the people inside? Or would you remain safely outside and do what you can to try and help those indoors?
Itโs impossible to truly understand how you would react unless you were in that situation, and many heroes recall that their lifesaving actions were complete โspur of the moment.โ
When one man from Salem Illinois, discovered that his neighborโs house was on fire, he himself had a knee jerk reaction, and the brave man faced the flames in order to rescue his neighbors. He has since taken part in an interview from local news station KMOV St. Louis, which was posted onto their YouTube channel so the world can see just how brave he is.
It all began one Wednesday morning.
Marshall Helm was walking his granddaughter to the bus stop one Wednesday morning when he first became alerted to a fire in his neighborโs house.
โBus driver hung out the door and tried to get my attention and he said โfire, fire, fire.โ And I looked over here and sure enough, I saw a fire coming through that window,โ Marshall recalled.
Marshallโs neighbors were still inside.
It was 7:30 in the morning, and Marshall feared that his neighbors were still asleep in their bed, unaware of the raging fire. The 70-year-old veteran and cancer sufferer didnโt think twice about risking his life, and immediately rushed into the burning building.
He ran past flames to save his neighbors.
Marshall said that he had managed to push open a door to the side of the garage, and despite seeing flames licking the wall, he was able to bravely squeeze past and into the house. He didnโt know the layout of the building, so he ran through each room, attempting to alert his neighbors.
โI was hollering โfire, fire, you got to get out of here. Anybody in here.โ And I kept repeating, โis anybody in here,โโ he said.
Gary and Kathy Benjamin awoke to the sound of Marshallโs shouting, and were initially confused as to what was going on. But as they began to wake up, the reality of the situation hit, and they jumped to get out of bed.
โOh my God, I didnโt know what was happening,โ said Kathy Benjamin.
The Benjamins rushed out of their room, and together with Marshall they made for the exit. The door that Marshall had pushed open to get in was now completely engulfed in flames, but luckily they made it out safely through a door round the back.
Thanks to Marshallโs quick thinking, they had all made it out alive.
Looking back at the moment, Gary and Kathy couldnโt express their gratitude enough to the man who had so selflessly saved their lives. If it wasnโt for him, they would likely not have lived to tell the story.
โLifesaver, lifesaver is all I can say,โ said Gary Benjamin. His wife added, โHero, heโs our angel.โ
What an amazing man. Watch his interview below.
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