There were two murders yesterday and we'll tell you about them later on in the newscast. But we open the news tonight on a happier note - with a story of brotherly love that is downright heroic. Jacqueline Godwin found out how a teenager risked his own life to saved his little brothers from certain death in the belly of a burning house.
Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
There was nothing thirty year old Dawn Billary could do to hold back her tears as she walked through what is left of her two bedroom house at number ten Hibiscus Lane. A place she called home for almost three decades. The cement building was completely destroyed by fire around eight twenty on Sunday morning. The blaze started from inside this front bedroom and quickly spread to the adjoining rooms.
Dawn Billary, Fire Victim
"When I run in there, I see fire. So I run back outside to try and get water to throw it like three different times but the third time I could not make it back to go inside."
Dawn's says she was cooking in her kitchen when she asked her eldest son sixteen year old Ernest Billary if he could buy a box of matches because she believes her brother who is also named Ernest had taken her only supply left in the house.
Dawn Billary,
"So I told him go buy one for me so he tell me let me go and put on a shirt and by the time he gone in the room he said ma, your house is burning so I told him no and he said yes ma your house is burning and I tell him no."
There was so much confusion that no one remembered the younger siblings a six year old and a four month old baby who were left watching cartoons in the living room. But what happened next has left this mother of three feeling very lucky and proud of her oldest child Ernest. The teenager ran back into the burning building to rescue his younger brothers. Ernest says he knew the risk he was taking but he knew the children were in trouble. Ernest says as he entered through the front door he could not see anything inside and literally had to get down on his and knees to find his brothers.
Ernest Billary, Heroic Son
"Hmm, dark smoke. I could not really take the smoke because too much chemicals, I could not breathe good. I gone down on the ground and creep down and creeped and creeped between the chair and gone to the young one."
While the children were saved their brother did get hurt as he was rescuing the six-year-old boy.
Ernest Billary,
"Then when I look up I see flames on the mattress and right there I think, the heat from the fire caught me on my forehead and thing."
Ernest suffered burns to the forehead and nose. Today Police Commissioner Gerald Westby hailed the courage of this sixteen year old whose heroism saved two children's lives.
Ernest Billary,
"Normal thing you know. At least the two ones are safe and nobody get hurt and thing."
Dawn Billary an asthmatic had to be taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. While she is grateful to her son she is also dealing with the fact that it was her own brother who is responsible. Dawn says four years ago her brother started having mental problems and it has not been easy on the family.
Dawn Billary,
"Well like a say he has a slight mental problem so I noh know why
he do it; only he knows why he did it."
Jacqueline Godwin,
You hold him responsible for this or are you considering that maybe because of his mental condition he did not know what he was doing?
Dawn Billary,
"I cannot give an answer on that right now because like I say it is something he always say. So I do not know what to say because it is something he always said when he live with me that he will burn down my house, he will burn down my house but I never think that he would do something like that. Yes, I know he has a slight mental problem so I know if is because he has a slight mental problem he did it or it is something intentional that he has done."
"He just come back here two days ago and he has this slight mental problem so I explained to him that he cannot stay here no more because I noh have no space for him and he start to rail up and say all kind of thing. And then those boys, my neighbors say that from the night before he is saying that he will burn down my house, he will burn down my house."
Billary was reportedly seen jumping a fence and running away from the house at the time of the fire.
Supt. Aaron Guzman,
"It is our understanding that the person we have in custody may be mentally challenged and if it is so then we have to look firstly into his welfare and see where we go from there. I will take what we have on advisement from the DPP and if it is established that this person is mentally challenged then we will take what we have and ask for the DPP's advice if it is that we lay charges against the person we have in custody."
Today Dawn returned to the scene to try and salvage whatever she can but it was clear from the charred remains gathered in the yard the family has to start all over again.
Dawn Billary,
"Everything burn. The just one or two little clothes that I have, that people give me to give me and my children for right now, every every thing burn."
Sheree Locke, Sister of Fire Victim
"And if you could notice, she lost a lot of things and I got caught in fire burn already so I know it feels, I know how she feels so I would like anybody that is out there that could help her, give her assist for me."
The Billary family is in need of clothing, footwear and household items. If you can assist Dawn Billary you can call the family at 622 - 2581. Jacqueline Godwin for 7NEWS.
Though he is believed to have set the fire, 36 year old Ernest Billary has not been charged.
