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Carol Lee, for 22 years a sheltered housing support worker in Hayle and Connor Downs, is to receive a commendation award from Cornwall’s chief fire officer for saving a 100 year old woman from a burning bungalow.
She was on the scene at Tremorva, Hayle, some ten minutes before the fire brigade arrived and was able to bring Mrs Ruby Hosking out of the smoke filled home. “I couldn’t see her because of the thick and black smoke but could hear her coughing. She was hanging on to the doorframe of the lounge in the hall” said Carol, who works for Penwith Housing Association (PHA). “By chance I was just down the road, about two minutes away, and had visited Mrs Hosking over an hour earlier when she was absolutely fine. The bungalow’s smoke alarm was linked to Carrick Lifeline at Truro and they rang me and said the brigade was on its way from Camborne. I remember the smoke pouring out of the roof and thinking ‘she is in there’”.
Carol, who looks after the elderly and disabled at 42 properties, added “The place was well alight. I couldn’t see much because of the terrible smoke. I can understand why they say smoke will kill before the fire. Mrs Hosking had suffered a panic attack after the chip pan fire and it was very serious in there. I got her outside, the flames were out of control and there was no way I could fight it. The flames were up through the ceiling and into the loft space – and the neighbours loft was also filled with smoke”.
The firemen put out the blaze – the kitchen was ruined – and checked the neighbour’s bungalow for smoke damage. Mrs Hosking was treated for smoke inhalation by the ambulance crew but did not want to go to hospital and stayed for a time with her daughter in Hayle. Later in 2008 she received a card of congratulations from the Queen on her 100th birthday and, sadly, also sustained an injury in a fall.
Carol Lee of Connor Downs, who is delighted to be receiving the award, said she believed the PHA safety features at the bungalow helped save the old lady. “And the firemen didn’t think she would have survived if I hadn’t brought her out”.
The award ceremony is at Falmouth in March.
