Published: January 19, 2009 04:08 pm      

Neighbor ‘reaches out’ to save life

Woman pulled from home as her garage burned

On the day President-elect Barack Obama urged Americans to reach out and help others, Charlie Colbert did his part.

He quite likely saved the life of his elderly neighbor.

Colbert had just arrived home from his job with Atmos Energy. He skipped lunch, so he was early.

Looking across the street, he saw what he first thought was smoke from a barbecue coming from behind the home of his neighbor on Love Circle, Jeanette Sain. As he looked, it soon became apparent it wasn’t a barbecue grill — there was a fire in Sain’s garage.

“I ran across the street and went into her house, and she was sitting in a chair,” Colbert said. “She acted like she was half-asleep. I said ‘Jean, you’ve got to get out of the house’ and then got her out .”

Colbert ran back to his home, two doors down from Sain’s, and retrieved a fire extinguisher. When he returned, he couldn’t find Sain. She had gone back into the house.

“I went back in and got her out of the house again ... she had some burns on her arm,” he said.

Colbert emptied his fire extinguisher on the flames, and arriving firefighters did the rest.

Sain was taken by ambulance to Navarro Regional Hospital. Her condition was not immediately known.

James Palos, Corsicana fire marshal, was on scene investigating the blaze. Palos said the fire appeared to have started in a trash can in the garage as he sifted through debris taken from the garage. Fire damage appeared to be limited to one small area in the garage.

Colbert was a reluctant hero, saying he knew he had to help Sain.

“I’ve cut her lawn for 20 years,” he said of his neighbor.

Monday, he did much more than that.

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Bob Belcher may be reached via e-mail at belcher@corsicanadailysun.com