Heroic Mobile man enters burning house to save elderly neighbor

by Aubrey Spears

MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — The heroic actions of a Mobile man saved the life of his elderly neighbor whose house was filled with smoke and flames.

On Thursday morning, the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department received reports of a residential fire on Louisiane Drive. When firefighters arrived, they saw heavy, dark smoke coming from the back of the house and a woman on the front lawn. It was soon determined that the woman on the lawn was pulled from the burning home by a neighbor.

Shawn Stojanik was doing electrical work around his home when his electrician noticed smoke coming from a neighbor's house.

“Originally I was thinking, well, it's cold outside, but at the same time, there are no chimneys in the neighborhood,” he said.

Stojanik saw the dark smoke fuming from the roof and became concerned.

“I started yelling at him, call 911, call 911 right now,” he said.

Stojanik bolted towards the house where people nearby told him there was a woman in the house.

“As soon as they said that, I just went into action. I went to her front door, and I just started breaking the front door open, but she was right behind the front door, and she had collapsed,” he said.

Stojanik had to push his way into the house to rescue the woman who he says was unresponsive.

“I was afraid that it was too late, but thankfully, she is 92 years old, and I guess she is very healthy. She is just fine,” he said.

Soon after Stojanik pulled his neighbor out of the house, firefighters arrived and transported her to the hospital.

“The last words I said to her were, hey, did you mow your grass? She said, no, no, not today. So, she is very alive and well, but I am thankful that I was here at my house working rather than somewhere else, because it would be a different story,” he said.

Other than a bad cough from breathing in smoke, Stojanik says he was checked out by paramedics and is fine. According to MFRD, the fire remains under investigation.

“We undergo a lot of training to go inside. When you have a neighbor that does something like this it is nothing short of heroic. We really are thankful that people can spring into action like that,” said Jeff Haller, MFRD Public Information Officer.

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Heroic Mobile man enters burning house to save elderly neighbor