A Malden home was destroyed by fire earlier this week, but the residents all got out safely thanks to a pair of police officers who saw the smoke from several blocks away.
Eighty-Six-year-old Midge Hammersley was inside with her daughter, grandson and great-granddaughter at the time.
“My daughter come up the stairs and she said ma get out there’s a fire,” Hammersley said. One of the police officers, a rookie, helped pull the octogenarian to safety.
“She said we have to get out because there’s a fire and we have to get out now,” Hammersley said. As she grabbed her coat and pocketbook, her 86-year-old husband Arnie, a retired Malden firefighter, was just coming back from the store and saw the fire.
“I was so excited, I seen the house and it was mine. It was awful,” he said. “They were all out, but I didn’t know that.”
The couple, married 61 years was reunited and everyone got out safely.