Super gran saves four from burning home

BRADLEY AMBROSE/Taranaki Daily News

SUPERGRAN: Barbara Shearer, with grandson Andrew Coombe, is being hailed as a hero after she saved four people from her burning New Plymouth home.

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Grandma Barbara Shearer is being hailed as a hero after she saved four people from a burning New Plymouth house.

Mrs Shearer's home of 46 years, in Glenpark Ave, was gutted by fire in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

She lost most of her possessions.

Firefighters say it was the 70-year-old's quick thinking that allowed all five occupants, including one grandson who has Down syndrome, to escape alive.

Mrs Shearer had been watching TV about 1am when she realised something was wrong.

"I happened to look out into the kitchen and I saw this smoke go by," she said.

The fire was started when a candle ignited a mattress.

Smoke alarms in the house did not sound.

Mrs Shearer yelled out to her grandson Andrew Coombe, 19: "Wake up there's a fire."

Andrew's reply was: "Yeah, it's in here."

Mr Shearer's attention turned to her handicapped grandson DJ Shearer, 25, and she went to make sure he safely escaped the blaze.

Not finished there, Mrs Shearer rushed downstairs to warn two tenants of the danger.

Mrs Shearer did not consider herself a hero.

"Family is number one. It is just your natural instinct to make sure that everybody is out and safe," she said.

Everything happened so fast she could not remember feeling scared or afraid at any point.

"I was in shock. When I rang 111, I was screaming at them," she said.

As the five stood on the lawn, the house was engulfed in flames in "one big whoosh".

Everything Mrs Shearer owned was lost in the blaze - 46 years of photographs and other prized keepsakes.

"It hurts losing all of your photos and memories," she said, but quickly added "I can replace those, lives can't be".

She feared she had lost her late husband's prized medals from the Korean War, but Andrew found two of them in the rubble yesterday.

DJ's father and Mrs Shearer's son David is flying home from Australia tomorrow to see them both.

The fire had started in Andrew's room and he had attempted to put the flames out but was unsuccessful.

"I didn't want to watch all of my grandmother's and grandfather's stuff go up in flames," he said.

Glass windows began shattering around Andrew as he fled the burning house.

He had to be taken to hospital suffering smoke inhalation. Visiting the charred remains of the house yesterday, the heat of the blaze was evident.

Melted glass was stuck in blackened window frames, the roof had partially collapsed and everything inside had been destroyed.

Mrs Shearer said it felt surreal to see her home in such a state and did not think what had happened had fully sunk in.

She said she would not build on the site again, but it would be very hard to leave the place she had called home for almost half a century.

Daughter-in-law Judy Coombe said Mrs Shearer never had much, but had always given up what she had to help others.

"She is an absolutely wonderful woman," Mrs Coombe said.

"She has been a hero her whole life to everybody."

Neighbour Donna Moke said she considered Mrs Shearer a hero loved by everyone in the neighbourhood.

"She has helped bring up all of the kids in the area.

"If there are medals for people like that, I think that they should give her one," Miss Moke said.

A day earlier, people threw bricks at a Taranaki Daily News reporter and photographer as they approached the scene.

Neighbours said the brick-throwers were nearby residents who were only looking out for Mrs Shearer.