I had to try, says hero

ROSS GIBLIN/The Dominion Post

BRAVE ACT: Kima Sampson dragged a man from a burning house in Trentham before collapsing from smoke inhalation.

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A rescuer lunged blindly through a burning house to save its trapped occupant, guided only by the man's "gurgling", before pulling him to safety.

Kima Sampson, 44, of Trentham, Upper Hutt, woke to a "gurgling half-yell" before daybreak on Sunday, as smoke poured out of the neighbouring property.

A 29-year-old was trapped in his bedroom. Heat from the fire melted his mattress.

Mr Sampson said he jumped the fence between their properties and kicked the back door down. "I ran in and, when the smoke hit me, there was just so much intense heat it made me drop to the ground."

He could not see anything but was guided by a gurgle, now quieter, "like someone gurgling when they rinse their mouth".

He stumbled across the man's legs and dragged him outside, before fainting. "I'm just glad he managed to make a bit of noise for me to find him. I'm rapt that he will see his kids again.

"I guess I just believe in karma. If you can, you can. But I heard his voice and I couldn't ... I had to try."

The victim suffered smoke inhalation and was in a satisfactory condition last night in Hutt Hospital's intensive care unit.

Mr Sampson was full of admiration for the fire service. "I was saying to the fireman, `You guys do this all the time.' Stuff that. Scary stuff, mate."

Trentham fire station's senior station officer, Matthew Abel, went to the fire and said Mr Sampson had saved the man's life. "What he did went above and beyond, not that we encourage people to run back into burning buildings. But in this case ... he was only barely breathing when I found him.

"Even though we're only literally a minute up the road, if that, there were seconds really. Seconds. And this guy could have been dead."

The fire damaged the house's interior "extensively" but was put out before the house sustained structural damage.

It appeared to have started from the man's bedroom and was not suspicious, Mr Abel said.

He did not see any smoke alarms in the house.

- © Fairfax NZ News