Off-Duty Firefighter Praised for Saving Life of Young Child Trapped in a Blazing House

OFF-DUTY firefighter praised for saving the life of a young child trapped in a blazing house fire.

Off-duty firefighter Russ Jones, aged 24, has been praised by the West Midlands Fire service for his “swift and selfless actions” which saved a young boy’s life. Russell had been off duty on Thursday, March 18 but when a Birmingham house caught fire on Farren Road, in Northfield he did everything he could do to help.

Being off-duty, firefighter Russ did not have any of his firefighting equipment but after hearing screams coming from the property he knew he had to save the young boy, of only four years old, that he knew to be trapped in the property.

Speaking of the young boy trapped in the fire Russ explained that, “As soon as I saw the fire and was told a young child was missing in the property, I had to do something. The fire was too intense upstairs and because I could hear the screams I knew the boy had to be on the ground floor.

“Without my firefighting kit there it was too dangerous for me to enter the property, so I had to find a way of trying to locate the boy and rescue him. I’m just so grateful I did and that he is ok.

“I did what any of my colleagues would have done in the same situation. I’m a dad myself, so I’m just so grateful I managed to locate the boy and get him out of the property.”

Russ has been praised by the West Midlands Fire service and Marc Hudson Group Commander said, “The swift and selfless actions of Firefighter Jones represent the very best of West Midlands Fire Service. We’re very proud of Russ for saving the young boy’s life, had he not acted so quickly and professionally, this incident may have ended in tragedy.

“I’d also like to commend the on-duty crews from Northfield, Kings Norton and Woodgate Valley who arrived in just over three minutes and worked extremely hard to extinguish the severe fire.”

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