A 97-year-old woman was rescued by some bystanders and neighbors from her burning home after they carried her out of the house in her living room chair. Moments later, one of her rescuers went into cardiac arrest in the driveway across the street.
A bystander, Lariana Garvis, filmed the entire incident which occurred Friday in Nashua, New Hampshire. Garvis told WMUR she was driving by the house when she saw the windows blown out from the flames. That's when another driver and a neighbor kicked the door in and grabbed the elderly woman from her living room—still in her chair.
In the video, Garvis can be heard yelling "we got you," as she ran toward the house fire. From outside, the flames from inside the house were visible as they poured out of the broken windows. Two people appeared in the doorway carrying the elderly woman in her green velour chair.
"We got you," Garvis repeated again. The rescuers carried the woman across the street and also made sure her dog escaped the fire. All seemed fine, but that's when the chaos picked up again in the video.
"Is he okay?" Garvis asked the rescue group who were now surrounding one of the neighbors. One of the bystanders was seen on the phone as the other two support the man's weight as he collapsed. When firefighters arrived, they told the bystanders that the man went into cardiac arrest.
"Is he breathing?" Garvis asked in the video before tossing her phone and starting compressions. "Listen man, I said you just saved her, you're not dying," Garvis told WMUR. The man was then taken to a local hospital where he is recovering. The man has not been identified, but Garvis told WMUR she spoke to him Saturday and he is doing well.
"He said I don't remember it but I love you for it," Garvis told WMUR. She said the entire situation was terrifying but that everyone was there at the right time.
"Everyone can be a hero every single day," she told WMUR. "You never really know what's going to happen to you. I was just driving home and I just happened to see it."
It is still unclear what caused the fire inside the woman's home and an investigation is still underway.
In July, Newsweek reported about a Florida man who was saved from a house fire when his dog woke him up. Joel Rosa was woken up to his dog Maggie barking loudly at around 3 a.m. one morning. That's when he noticed a fire had started after the house was struck by lightning.
Rosa was able to make it outside safely and called the local fire department. When firefighters arrived, part of his house collapsed due to the strength of the fire. About 80 percent of his house was burned in the fire, according to authorities.
Rosa praised his pup Maggie, telling WMTV, "Oh, she's my hero. I love my dog. It's amazing. I would say she saved my life."
