FIRE HEROISM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22412, 7 May 1936, Page 10

FIRE HEROISM

BOY IN BLAZING TENT COURAGEOUS RESCUER LAD CARRIED IN ARMS VICTIM DIES OF BURNS [Br TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] WAIROA, Wednesday A story of how a Maori, awakened on Sunday night by screams, rushed into a tent and found a Maori boy sitting up in bed enveloped by flames, and how, at the risk of his own life, he rescued the lad and carried him for miles over rough bush tracks in the middle of the night to a whare, comes from the Riverina Station, in the Marumaru country, about eight miles from Wairoa.

The boy, who died before he reached hospital, was George Ihakara Lewis, aged eight years, and the Maori who heroically tried to save his life is Mr. Pera Solomon, who at present lies in the Wairoa County Hospital in a serious condition suffering from severe burns. The scene of the happening was a small camp some miles from the Riverina homestead, where the boy's father and Mr. Solomon were engaged in scrub cutting. Asleep in Teat Early on Sunday morning Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, accompanied by their three young children and Mr. Solomon, left for the homestead to do some baking. Mr. Solomon and the boy went for stores and returned to the camp, where they spent the afternoon together.

The camp consisted of a large tent where Mr. and Mrs. Lewis and their family slept, and a smaller tent, which was used for cocking and where Mr. Solomon slept. There was one bunk in the smaller tent, and, as Mr. and Mrs. Lewis had not returned to the camp, Mr. Solomon' and the boy shared the same bed in the small tent. Before going to bed precautions were taken to put the fire out with water, and Mr. Solomon, who said he was very tired, soon dropped off to sleep. Apparently the boy could not get to sleep, for shortly afterward he left Mr. Solomon and went into the larger tent. Some hours later Mr. Solomon was awakened by screams. Blazing Furiously On jumping out of bed, he discovered that the large tent was ablaze. Tearing aside the flap, he rushed into the tent, and there saw the boy sitting up in the bed, which was blazing furiously. The boy's shirt also was in flames. Fighting his way through the flames, Mr. Solomon gained the boy's side and, picking him up, rushed out into the night. By this time Mr. Solomon's own clothes had caught fire, and he had been badly burned about the head, face, legs and arms. With the boy in his arms and with hardly a stitch of clothing "left, he set out to trudge over three miles of badly broken country to a whare, where he knew he would meet the boy's parents. He arrived at the whare in an exhausted state. Death on Journey Mr. Lewis did everything he could to relieve his son's suffering, and then set out- at daybreak for the Riverina homestead, to secure dressings and other assistance. On arriving back at the whare he dressed the boy's burns as best he could and, shortly after, the party left for Frasertown, near Wairoa, carrying the boy on a roughlymade stretcher. Only two miles had been covered, however, when the boy died An inquest was held at Frasertown by the coroner, Mr. V. E. Winter, who found that death was due to shock following burns accidentally received when the boy's tent caught fire. Mr. Solomon was admitted to the hospital last evening in a serious condition, and, according to a report today, he showed no improvement.