Local hero helps put out dangerous house fire in Oswestry

Shane Williams was in his back garden on Tuesday evening (January 30) with a friend and checked over the back fence after hearing a fire alarm going off.

“Me and my friend Sally Anne Watson were outside having a cigarette and we could hear a fire alarm going,” said Shane.

“I heard the alarm go off for a while but alarms go off in those flats all the time, so no one pays attention to it half the time.

“So my mate got on a chair to look over the fence and the bottom flat opposite, there were flames in the ceiling of the kitchen.

“The flames were touching the ceiling in the kitchen and I was like 'what do I do?'"

The house after the fire (Image: Ruairi Walsh)

Thinking quickly, Shane leapt the back fence and sprang into action immediately to try and help.

“One of the lads who lived above her he was trying to get through the door,” said Shane.

“I just jumped over the fence with a lump hammer and put the window straight through. My mate Sally-Ann was passing buckets of water over and I was just throwing them through the window. As I was doing that Sally was on the phone to the fire service.”

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The neighbours then started filling up buckets of water so Shane could throw the water through the window to help douse the flames.

“It was next door, myself, Sally-Anne and the couple who live upstairs,” said Shane.

“They were trying to get through the door. She was on the phone. We put the fire out but obviously the smoke still goes after the fire is gone so it was even worse. I did think about smashing the door but I was unsure about the risk.”

Not long after the fire service arrived at the scene and used a ram to access the building before getting the woman stuck inside out.

“When the fire service came I told them I think someone is in there,” said Shane. “The fire alarm had been going so long I didn’t know if someone was hurt.

“The firemen took the door off with their ram and then they pulled her out for oxygen. Watching that was horrible, it was full of smoke, real thick smoke.”

After this Shane went home but he later got a visit from the fire service, thanking him for his quick thinking.

“As soon as I give my account to the fireman, I was away from there. They came round and thanked me later on them and the police and told me if it wasn’t for me and my mate she might not have made it,” said Shane.

“It was only because my friend popped her head over to be sure.

“It was a mad day, I was in shock after and was shaking like mad last night, I couldn’t really believe what had happened. I hope she is ok.”

A spokesperson for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: "We were called by the fire service at 5.35pm to a fire at a private address on Queen Elizabeth Close in Oswestry.

"One ambulance and a paramedic officer attended the scene. Upon arrival we found a woman who was assessed and had sustained potentially serious injuries. She was conveyed to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital for further treatment.”