Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Retired N.J. firefighter who alerted family to blaze downplays role
Melissa and James Perdue and three children slept soundly inside the sprawling, wood-frame farmhouse as fire raged early Sunday through two outbuildings directly behind the rented home.
The fire ultimately reached the two-story house.
Meanwhile, Patrick and Margie Lenez of Wirtz had left home around 3:30 a.m. Sunday to drive daughter Nicole to the Roanoke Regional Airport, where she would catch a 5:30 a.m. flight.
The couple’s actions later that morning “very possibly may have saved five lives,” said Franklin County Fire Marshal Bennie Russell.
Yet no one at the scene of the house fire early Sunday learned Patrick and Margie’s names. Their identity remained a mystery, even after Patrick gave the displaced family more than $100 that morning to help them adjust to losing nearly everything they owned.
Turns out that Patrick, 52, is a New Jersey native and a retired firefighter. He said today that he and Margie, 50, would never have been up and traveling that early if Nicole had not needed to be at the airport by 4:30 a.m.
On the drive back down U.S. 220 to their Franklin County home Patrick spotted a column of smoke off to the left that caught his attention.
“It didn’t seem normal,” he said Tuesday. “And it seemed to be more lit up in that area than you’d expect.”
Shortly before 5 a.m., he and Margie turned their vehicle around and went to investigate.
After reaching Crafty Fox Drive, Patrick saw ominous flickering and then flames behind a large house. Margie called 911 while Patrick exited their vehicle.
“I could see a TV on inside on the first floor,” Patrick said, but no one appeared to be awake.
He began banging on the home’s front door. Eventually, Steven Fisher-Mabry, 15, who had been asleep in a downstairs bedroom, answered the door. Melissa Perdue heard the banging too and woke James.
They roused Kayla Perdue, 5, and Jamie Perdue, 7. Son Hunter Torode, 8, was sleeping at an uncle’s house.
Patrick warned the family about the fire in outbuildings directly behind their house and told them to evacuate. He kept an eye on the blaze while family members quickly grabbed some precious mementos.
“The fire was licking the back of the house,” Patrick said.
When he saw sparking from the home’s electrical service he told the family they had to get out and stay out.
The fire burned the first floor kitchen, traveled to an upstairs bedroom and then up to and across the attic.
Russell said Monday that the home is a total loss.
That same day, Melissa Perdue expressed gratitude for the actions of a man whose name she did not know.
“We are very, very thankful,” she said. “Without that man, I might not be here. My husband and kids might not be here.”
The Roanoke Times contacted Patrick and Margie Lenez after learning their names from a reader, who referenced a related article Monday by Bloomfield Life and northjersey.com.
“I wasn’t hiding,” Patrick said.
Russell said he learned the couple’s names in an email from Bloomfield Life and spoke to Patrick Tuesday.
“He’s just a super nice individual,” Russell said.
As of Tuesday evening, Patrick had not yet talked to the Perdues, who are living temporarily in a motel in Rocky Mount. He said he hopes that connection will happen but downplayed his actions early Sunday.
Other people would have done the same thing, he said.
The fire ultimately reached the two-story house.
Meanwhile, Patrick and Margie Lenez of Wirtz had left home around 3:30 a.m. Sunday to drive daughter Nicole to the Roanoke Regional Airport, where she would catch a 5:30 a.m. flight.
The couple’s actions later that morning “very possibly may have saved five lives,” said Franklin County Fire Marshal Bennie Russell.
Yet no one at the scene of the house fire early Sunday learned Patrick and Margie’s names. Their identity remained a mystery, even after Patrick gave the displaced family more than $100 that morning to help them adjust to losing nearly everything they owned.
Turns out that Patrick, 52, is a New Jersey native and a retired firefighter. He said today that he and Margie, 50, would never have been up and traveling that early if Nicole had not needed to be at the airport by 4:30 a.m.
On the drive back down U.S. 220 to their Franklin County home Patrick spotted a column of smoke off to the left that caught his attention.
“It didn’t seem normal,” he said Tuesday. “And it seemed to be more lit up in that area than you’d expect.”
Shortly before 5 a.m., he and Margie turned their vehicle around and went to investigate.
After reaching Crafty Fox Drive, Patrick saw ominous flickering and then flames behind a large house. Margie called 911 while Patrick exited their vehicle.
“I could see a TV on inside on the first floor,” Patrick said, but no one appeared to be awake.
He began banging on the home’s front door. Eventually, Steven Fisher-Mabry, 15, who had been asleep in a downstairs bedroom, answered the door. Melissa Perdue heard the banging too and woke James.
They roused Kayla Perdue, 5, and Jamie Perdue, 7. Son Hunter Torode, 8, was sleeping at an uncle’s house.
Patrick warned the family about the fire in outbuildings directly behind their house and told them to evacuate. He kept an eye on the blaze while family members quickly grabbed some precious mementos.
“The fire was licking the back of the house,” Patrick said.
When he saw sparking from the home’s electrical service he told the family they had to get out and stay out.
The fire burned the first floor kitchen, traveled to an upstairs bedroom and then up to and across the attic.
Russell said Monday that the home is a total loss.
That same day, Melissa Perdue expressed gratitude for the actions of a man whose name she did not know.
“We are very, very thankful,” she said. “Without that man, I might not be here. My husband and kids might not be here.”
The Roanoke Times contacted Patrick and Margie Lenez after learning their names from a reader, who referenced a related article Monday by Bloomfield Life and northjersey.com.
“I wasn’t hiding,” Patrick said.
Russell said he learned the couple’s names in an email from Bloomfield Life and spoke to Patrick Tuesday.
“He’s just a super nice individual,” Russell said.
As of Tuesday evening, Patrick had not yet talked to the Perdues, who are living temporarily in a motel in Rocky Mount. He said he hopes that connection will happen but downplayed his actions early Sunday.
Other people would have done the same thing, he said.
