"Woman in shock"

Resolute helper kicked in kitchen window

Robert Petrusic tamed the flames with the help of a stepladder and a fire blanket.(Bild: Mader Klaus Fotografie)

He is the hero of the day! The selfless efforts of a building contractor (30) early on Sunday morning may have saved the life of a 58-year-old woman from Steyr. The man saw from the street that there was a fire in the kitchen of the apartment. Because nobody opened the door, he gained access himself through a window.

"Nobody responded to knocking and ringing, so we got a ladder out of the car and kicked the window in." A 58-year-old woman from Styria may owe her life to the quick actions of Robert Petrusic (30). 

What had happened? "I picked up a colleague from the area. We were on our way to a building site when we suddenly saw flames in an apartment through a window," says the self-employed building contractor. "We stopped immediately, as did a few others. One of them immediately called the police, while we tried to alert the residents to the fire. But nobody reacted."

High flames on the stove
So the two colleagues grabbed a ladder from the company bus, climbed up to the ground floor window and kicked it open inwards. Just in time: "There was a plastic container on the stove, it had already completely melted and a flame a good half a meter high was burning in the kitchen," says Petrusic. "We also have a kind of fire blanket in the car, which I used to smother the flames."

Resident sent out
"The woman woke up at some point and came into the kitchen," the hero continues. How did the lady react to the fact that not only was her kitchen on fire, but a stranger rescuer was already taming the flames? "She was definitely in shock, I sent her out straight away. I didn't really notice how she reacted, I was focused on the fire," says the courageous man from Steyr. 

Stove could not be switched off
The flames were smothered under the ceiling, but there was another problem: "The stove couldn't be switched off. We then cut the fuses and opened all the windows to let the smoke out, by which time the police were already on site," reports Petrusic. 

The cause of the fire is now being investigated by the fire police. There are currently indications that the stove had a technical defect.