Pick the Grampa, pick the 48 y.o.
Posted on 05/20/2004 4:46:18 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Levi Smith's big brown eyes with dark thick lashes widen even more when he talks about what his grandfather did Wednesday morning.
"He saved a man from a fire," the 4-year-old said, his smile revealing four silver-capped front teeth.
The saved man, Roberto Esteuane, had passed out near a side door just after 6:30 a.m. after flames engulfed the front of a house in the 300 block of Harcourt Avenue.
Down the street, Mark Smith arrived home from his overnight job and reached for his newspaper before noticing smoke wafting across the street.
He thought it might be exhaust from a car starting up.
Back on his front porch, Smith saw smoke wasn't coming from a car, but nearly half a block away, from a house that had flames pouring out of two picture windows.
Not knowing whether anyone lived in the house, Smith, 46, jumped on his bike and raced down the street.
He grabbed a plank and pounded on the front door, busting it open, and was greeted with a blast of heat and flames, he said.
He ventured in a few feet, "yelling like a maniac. 'Is anybody in here? Your house is on fire.'"
The thick smoke and unbearable heat forced him out. But he persisted, going to a side door and forcing it open.
He went in and saw what looked like a foot about two yards away.
He grabbed a blanket he found outside, wrapped himself with it and entered the house.
Smith said it appeared Esteuane, 34, was trying to escape through the side door but was overcome by smoke.
He dragged Esteuane's blackened body outside, where Smith realized the man wasn't breathing and didn't have a heartbeat.
Smith, who had never been trained in CPR, only could recall advice about pushing down on the heart with as much force as possible.
Despite thinking it was a lost cause, Smith pushed once, twice, three times, he said, with all the force he could muster.
On the third compression, Esteuane turned his head and gasped.
A neighbor then told Smith Esteuane didn't live there alone.
Smith went back in.
The smoke "felt like it was sucking the breath out of you," he said.
When he couldn't take another breath, he went back outside and learned no one else was home.
As he stood surveying the remains of his burned-out living room, Esteuane's cousin Jaime Zavala said he had left for work about 10 minutes before the fire started.
Firefighters suspect the fire was caused by an electrical failure in the living room.
Esteuane, of Plano, was in town working for a company that lays underground cable. He was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center in critical condition, Zavala said.
Esteuane is supposed to be married June 5 to the mother of his two daughters, Zavala said.
Down the street, little Levi, who turns 5 on Friday — or as he puts it, wiggling five fingers, "a whole handful" — was impressed by his grandfather's heroic efforts.
"He knocked the windows out with that big old fist of his," Levi said.
"It made me feel good that I might have made a difference," said Smith, who suffered only a scraped knuckle.
---------------mmoreno@express-news.net
That's a HERO!
ping :)
Lifeless? Apparently not.
Furthermore, no one younger than me can be described as a "Grandfather."
Otherwise, well done...
What an incredibly brave thing to do.
That's what I noticed too. He's forty-six! I'm picturing some doddering old guy tossing his walker aside and finding the lost strength of his youth to save another human.
A forty-six year old can still play professional baseball for godssakes!
Cheers to the hero, boos to the dopey newspaper for trying to find some "unique" angle to the story.
You know, from time to time I'm reminded that it's not just the people that we normaly grant hero staus to: firefighters, LEOs, Service Members etc, but the regular Joe citizen who "holds the line" and will risk his own life for that of a stranger in need.
Levi should be very proud of his Grampa.
IMO, people like this man are greater heroes than Firefighters, LEOs, etc because 1) They aren't getting paid 2)They aren't getting benefits and they have no coverage if they suffer catastrophic injury or death(beyond normal private programs) 3) Are untrained and risking everything not because it's their job or for a thrill but to save another human being.
Pick the Grampa, pick the 48 y.o.
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