The Mayor of South Brook is expressing relief that a massive fire in the community on the weekend wasn’t worse than what it was.

Alex Hewlett is being hailed a hero after pushing his girlfriend Martina Croucher from the burning home as she tried to rush back to save her cats.

The young couple was awakened with a bang Saturday morning and the home they were renting was quickly consumed in flame.

Mayor Don Higdon was speaking with a family member who indicated were it not for Hewlett’s determined and heroic actions, the outcome might have been much worse.

He was told that Alex blocked Martina from re-entering the burning house and forced her outside. Higdon says in doing so, he saved her life.

Sadly, the cats perished. Croucher is in hospital in Grand Falls-Windsor while Hewlett is in St. John’s recovering from burns suffered in the fire.

Earlier Story

A young man is being hailed a hero after fire destroyed a home in central Newfoundland early Saturday.

The blaze broke out shortly before 7 a.m. in the town of South Brook, about 25 kilometres south of Springdale. A man and a woman in their 20s managed to escape but had to be treated in hospital for burns.

Michelle Kelly, one of the first volunteer firefighters on scene, says the young man deserves recognition for his actions. She says he should be recognized as a hero for getting the woman out of the house alive.

Kelly, who also acts as secretary for the South Brook brigade, said a neighbour drove the injured couple to hospital before firefighters arrived on the scene, adding two cats perished in the fire which reduced the house to rubble.

The Springdale fire department also helped fight the blaze. Kelly said they needed the assistance since six South Brook firefighters were away for work.

Investigators are looking into the cause.