Boy Uses Rugby Skills to Save Family from Fire
By David Johnson
(From happynews.com – March 17, 2009)
Fourteen-year-old
Conor McGrath caught a boy of his age and a girl of
six after their mother lowered them and dropped them 10ft into his arms from an
upstairs bedroom window after their home was hit by a gas explosion.
Conor, a rugby player for
Lancashire and also the British under-16 wrestling champion, said: "I am a
rugby player so I've got quite good hands... I knew that I just had to catch
them. I am a strong lad for my age and the rugby definitely helped."
The accident happened after Conor had returned home from a jog in Great Lever, Bolton,
with his dad on Monday morning. Both ran across the road to the semi-detached
house and saw the woman screaming for help as smoke engulfed the bedroom.
"I just sprinted around
and heard her screaming," he added. "I was shouting up at her, asking
if she had a mattress so they could jump. They dangled the boy down first and I
caught him, then I caught the girl. I could see the flames and I did not want
to go into the house. All the windows had been blown out and it was a good job
they had or else they would have been trapped upstairs. My heart was racing and
there was a lot of adrenalin. I could see the fear in their eyes but there was
nothing else to do other than help."
Conor's head teacher at St James's
Church of England School and Sports College in Farnworth,
Bob Atkinson, said: "He is a credit to himself, his family and to the
school. "It was a very brave thing to do. He is a
model to the younger pupils."