Monday’s WOD: Saving a Couple From a House Fire

The story.

Mat Wildman, a member of Treeline CrossFit, recently put his fitness to the ultimate test when he helped rescue an elderly couple from a house fire in Creswell, OR.

Come again?

Wildman, who was driving back to work last Monday, pulled over when he saw a house on fire. While he was photographing the fire, another man came out and said he needed help. The homeowners, an elderly couple, were still inside.

“I pulled up and I heard a scream for help, so I just ran in there, and the couple were inside next to the fire, actually,” he said in an interview.

The man, who is wheelchair bound, did not want to leave his wife after she had fallen and was unable to get it. Wildman and the other good samaritan, Devin, convinced him they could get her out. First, the two men wheeled the husband outside to safety. Then, the two went back for his wife as promised.

Of course they did.

“So, they actually drug her out to get her out, while they were ducking beneath the smoke,” a family friend, Andy Halvorson said. “It was just kind of a crazy, crazy few minutes.”

Both husband and wife got out of the house safely, thanks to Wildman’s fast thinking and functional fitness. But, he doesn’t consider himself a hero.

“I really don’t consider myself a hero,” Wildman said. “Just, when you get put in that position, you just have to do it.” Our hats off to you, Sir.