Quick-thinking pensioner who saved a woman in her 80s from a house fire near Harborough is hailed a 'hero'

A quick-thinking pensioner who saved a stricken woman in her 80s from her blazing home in a village near Market Harborough is being hailed a “hero”.

Linda Wright, who’s in her 70s, rescued her neighbour Sheila Thomson in the nick of time as flames ripped through the kitchen of her beloved thatched cottage in Great Easton.

The amazingly brave but very modest widow has now been saluted by parish councillor Bob Wilson as he called her “heroic”.

Reluctant hero Linda told the Harborough Mail how the shocking life-and-death drama unfolded one afternoon.

“I’d walked over the road to where Sheila lives to get her bin in as usual.

“I looked up and all I could see were flames and so much smoke filling her kitchen.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” said Linda, who lost her husband Bob, 81, last year.

“Luckily her front door was open so I dashed straight in.

“Poor Sheila was lying on the floor in her kitchen.

“Her chip pan was on fire – it was full of hot fat.

“It was just like thick tar.

“I managed to put the fire out and burned my right arm although it’s not too bad,” said village stalwart Linda, who’s lived in Great Easton for 52 years.

“I think Sheila had been unconscious but she came around a bit.

“And she did her best to help me as I pulled her out through the door and into the fresh air outside.

“I asked someone walking past to come and sit with her and keep an eye on her while I rushed home to call 999.

“Paramedics came out and checked Sheila over because I was worried she’d breathed in smoke and may have been suffering shock.

“She was taken to Kettering hospital to be looked over before she went to stay with her niece in Thrapston.

“Her family have been excellent.

“They have completely cleaned up and redecorated her little thatched cottage, which she loves to bits,” said Linda, who said Sheila lives alone.

“I’m just so pleased I was in the right spot at the right time to get her out of the kitchen in time.

“It was so awful in there.

“Another 10 minutes and I fear she’d have been gone.

“The thatch and the beams in her home would have just gone up.

“But I’m no hero.

“Anyone would have done the same and I’d have done the same for anybody else,” insisted humble Linda.

“Sheila has been very thankful to me.

“She’s sent me a card and a lovely box of chocolates – and that’s really touched me.

“We do look out for her.

“And it is more important than ever in these times that we look after our friends, our neighbours and our communities.”

Cllr Wilson told the Mail: “Linda is a hero.

“She saved Sheila’s life and we’d love to get her some sort of recognition for her outstanding courage and quick thinking.

“Her story has gone around Great Easton and rightly so because none of us come across this sort of drama every day of the week.”

He added: “We are all very grateful to Linda for her actions and what she did saving Sheila from a terrible fire shows the people of Great Easton at their very best.”