'It was the right thing to do:' Mom driving past burning Puyallup home helps man escape

A mom driving with her 3-year-old daughter in the car shares the terrifying moments when she helped a man escape his burning home in Puyallup.

Tanya Myers says she was driving to get a COVID-19 shot Tuesday with her daughter, Lizzie also in the car. That's when she saw while driving along 9th Avenue SW a home burning and flames coming off of it. Myers said at that moment no fire crews were at the home.

"I saw big black smoke billowing out of the garage," she said.

She then called 9-1-1 but feared someone may be inside the home. She asked a bystander to keep an eye on her daughter, then made her way toward the burning home.

"That’s when I ran across the street saying, ‘Is anybody in there? Is anybody in there?’ And I remember repeating it over and over again. And I heard the gentlemen say, ‘Yes!’" said Myers.

She said the man made it out of the home as she helped him get away from the burning building. 

By the time they were safely away from the home, Myers said firefighters started to arrive at the home.

"I immediately called my fiancé on the phone and said, ‘I think I just saved a man from a fire,’" she said.

Myers said her father experienced a similar situation, where he helped a man out of a burning building. The memory of that story was the first thought that came to her mind when she saw this home on fire. 

She hopes sharing her story will inspire others, like her father’s story did for her, to lend a helping hand when someone is in need. 

"I don’t feel like it was being courageous or brave. I just feel like it was the right thing to do," she said.

Hospital officials say the man is still recovering and in serious condition. Another woman was also inside the home. Fire officials say when they arrived on scene she didn’t have a pulse, but crews performed CPR and were able to revive her. The woman is in the hospital and in critical condition, according to officials on Wednesday. 

Fire officials believe the blaze started in the garage, but the cause is still under investigation.

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