A “Heroic” Boston Resident Uses An Old Mattress To Help Save A Mother And Two Children From A Burning Building

After saving a family on Saturday, he told The Boston Globe, “I don’t feel like a hero.”

An individual from Boston is being hailed as a hero for rescuing a family to escape a burning building over the Labor Day holiday.

The 42-year-old man, identified by The Boston Globe as Clidfod Saintjen, acted quickly on Saturday morning when he learned that his neighbor’s house on Roslindale’s Delford Street was on fire.

A mother and her two children were trapped on their building’s second floor by the “intense blaze,” according to a statement from the Boston Fire Department.

When the good Samaritan saw this, he returned and got an old mattress he had thrown up against a neighboring fence and used it to help them get to safety, according to the Globe.

A heroic job by the next door neighbor to save a mother and her 2 children who were trapped on the 2nd floor by heavy fire at the 3 alarm fire on Delford st. He put a mattress down for them to jump as he caught the 5 year old that the mother dropped out the window to him. pic.twitter.com/1XLevl5OD6

— Boston Fire Dept. (@BostonFire) September 3, 2022

According to ABC affiliate WCVB, BFD spokesman Brian Alkins called the man’s efforts “quite courageous,” adding that it took quick thinking to recognize there was a mattress.

Our work is much facilitated by neighbors supporting neighbors, he added.

The family initially hesitated before jumping from the second floor. But in the end, their neighbor was able to convince them.

“They should hurry up, I tell them. It’s too close to us for the fire, “Clidfod spoke with the WCVB and Globe.

The mother handed the man her 5-year-old, after which she and her other child jumped onto the mattress he had placed beneath the window, according to WCVB.

According to the reports, the incident resulted in the displacement of nine persons in all, including five adults and four children. After receiving non-life-threatening injuries in the hospital, two firefighters were later allowed to go.

Investigations continue about what started the fire.

Clidfod told the Globe, “I don’t feel like a hero,” even though he saved lives.

Everyone should be terrified when something occurs, he continued, but when you see people in a fire, you can understand what the fire means to those people.