A Gastonia man was taken to a Winston-Salem hospital on Monday, though his fate might have been worse were it not for two Albemarle strangers.
James and Robert Coley were on their way to a job site for the Tarheel Marble Co. just before 9:30 a.m. when they noticed black smoke billowing out of the house at 2706 Lowell Bethesda Road. The brothers stopped to figure out what was going on.
Had they bypassed the emergency, they believe the 67-year-old man inside would have died in the blaze.
The victim was originally in critical condition Monday morning, said officials with Gaston County Emergency Medical Services, and taken to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center’s Burn Center. By the afternoon, Wake Forest's burn center had upgraded his condition to fair and determined the injury to no longer be life-threatening.
“I wasn’t worried about myself,” said James Coley, 24. “I’m in good health. So I was just praying I’d get whoever was in that house out of it. There was black smoke in the house everywhere.”
Coley says he, along with his brother and a neighbor from across the street, sprinted to the partially open door. When they swung it open fully, black smoke poured out toward the brothers.
After asking three times if anybody was inside, Coley says the occupant finally responded. Gazette news partner WSOC reported that the victim was identified as George Clouse.
“When he got to the front door he kind of fell on me and my brother,” said Robert Coley, 21. “I helped him out onto the yard.”
The brothers helped the resident onto a chair, which had been brought by the neighbor. James Coley said the victim’s mouth was black and his hair was burned. Their concern was keeping him alert until emergency workers could arrive on the scene.