Hero mechanic rescues blaze tot
Reporter: Karen Doherty
Date published: 02 February 2015
YOUNG mum-of-two Danielle Somerset was left unconscious as her son was saved from a house fire in Derker.
Mechanic Rob Day was fixing a car nearby and heard two-year-old Tye crying. He kicked down the door and rushed upstairs through thick smoke with another man, believed to be Tye’s dad Stephen Spence.
They rescued the screaming toddler from a bedroom at the house in Bartlemore Street.
Danielle was pulled out unconscious by firefighters and rushed to the Royal Oldham Hospital. Her conditional was initially critical but later stabilised.
Tye is believed to have escaped unharmed: the worst of the smoke was downstairs.
Rob, a breakdown mechanic, said: “It’s humbling and a bit embarrassing. It was one of those things. I am a father of two girls and something took over. You don’t think about yourself, just the child upstairs.”
Danielle’s friend Mark Crocker (23), of nearby Melrose Street, also rushed into the house to search for Tye’s older brother, Brodie, who he feared was also inside.
“When I got into the front room the fire brigade told me to get out,” he said. “I saw a some flames but it was hard to see anything because the smoke was thick.”
Brodie was believed to have been with relatives at the time.
Mark added: “It’s really upsetting. She’s a really nice person, a great parent and the kids are well looked after.”
Fire station manager Angus Robinson said: “A man had run into the house before firefighters arrived and managed to get the two-year-old out safely. He was very brave and did a good job. If it hadn’t been for his actions, it could have been more serious.”
