'He is a hero': U.S. Marine veteran saves 60-year-old neighbor from house fire
A North Carolina man is being praised as a hero by his neighbors after they said he rushed over and saved his neighbor's life from her burning home.
Fire officials in Winston-Salem said that they received a call about the house fire on Tuesday just after 10 a.m.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Sister station WXII talked with the stepfather of the woman who lives inside the home.
Henry Harper said his 60-year-old step-daughter, Sonya Smallwood, has lived in the house for decades.
He said it was because of her next-door neighbor's selfless thinking and action that she's still alive.
Roosevelt Hudson has lived in the neighborhood for 34 years.
He said Smallwood's mother came over to her daughter's house on Tuesday morning, but couldn't get inside. She saw smoke coming out from the front window.
Smallwood's mother quickly yelled for Hudson's help.
"Normally I’m gone or I’m in the house, but just at that time, I was here. I heard her call," Hudson said.
Hudson rushed over and tried to get inside the house from the side door, but it was locked.
Hudson said he yanked the screen door open and kicked down the side door. He yelled for Smallwood, and eventually found her bedroom.
"Her mother was standing there (outside), and I said the only way I can get in is if I kick the door in. She said, 'do what you have to do.'"
He said he checked the bedroom door handle to see if it was hot. Even though it was warm, he took a chance and opened the door and a plume of smoke rushed into his face.
"Fire don't play. It was at the top of the walls, at the top of the ceiling," Hudson said. "Smoke here and everything! It was black — pitch black in that room, other than the fire. The blaze of the fire is what showed her silhouette or else I wouldn't have seen her."
Hudson said the fire was burning one of the walls in the bedroom, and Smallwood was standing in the middle of the room.
He quickly grabbed her and rushed her outside, he said. It took him roughly four to five minutes to grab his neighbor and rush her to safety outside.
Harper said his stepdaughter suffered burns on her right forearm and her right leg. She is expected to be released from the hospital soon, he added.
Harper said he is truly grateful that Hudson was willing to sacrifice his own life to save his stepdaughter. While many neighbors are praising Hudson as a hero, Harper said Hudson has always been a hero since he's a U.S. Marine veteran.
But Harper said Hudson's actions on Tuesday simply highlighted the man he is.
"He is a hero. He is a live hero. We hear about people in the movies. We hear about people, a Superman character, but Mr. Roosevelt. He's a neighbor. He's a human being. He's real. I feel grateful to him," Harper told WXII.
Hudson said he doesn't consider himself a hero, just a man guided by his faith, and his love for his neighbor who he considers family for more than 30 years.
"I’m appreciative they (Smallwood and her family) were able to be in my life and I was able to be in their life, and at this point, to do something for them to let them know that the love that we share is real," said Hudson.
Winston-Salem fire officials said they are grateful for Hudson's efforts.
Fire officials urge neighbors not to rush into burning homes because it puts more lives at risk. They encourage people to call 911 in case of an emergency.