ABERDEEN, Md. — The fire started in a corner bedroom before climbing up the walls of the house on Darlington Avenue in Aberdeen.
“It looked like a fireplace in her back bedroom window. Just big flames,” said Lynne Shepard who had just picked up her daughter from work and was returning home when she spotted the fire, dialed 911 and leapt into action, “Ran over and banged on the door as hard as I can. The door was locked. Tried to go in. Couldn’t. Walked around to the side to see if I could bang on some windows. Came back. She heard me banging. She’s like, ‘Something’s not right’ or ‘Something’s wrong’, something like that. I’m like, ‘Your house is on fire!’ She was in the bathtub. She didn’t know.”
Investigators later determined that the fire was caused by a burning candle that was left unattended inside the home.
Good Samaritan rescues woman from house fire
Shepard deflects any talk of her being a hero, claiming anyone in her position would have done the same thing, but there’s no denying that her timing was perfect.
“It was a matter of literally seven minutes from the time I called 911 until you could not go back into that house.”
A small window of time to save a person’s life that Shepard is convinced was no accident.
“Coincidentally, we’d stopped at McDonald’s for milkshakes, and it took way too long and I was frustrated at how long it took, but I consider that God’s timing, because if (not for) that extra five minutes that I was frustrated over, she wouldn’t have made it out.”
