IT was his quick thinking that stopped lives being lost.
Dean Mason was last night hailed a hero for sparking a rescue mission as fierce flames threatened to engulf a Southampton home in the middle of the night.
The 24-year-old was playing on his XBox in the early hours of yesterday when he smelled toxic smoke coming from a neighbour’s house in Barnfield Road, Weston.
When he went to investigate, he found fire ripping through an outhouse and flames licking up around the cladding of the semi-detached property.
As Dean frantically raised the alarm and banged on neighbours’ doors, his dad Neil rushed to help two adults and two children escape from the burning building.
Meanwhile, Dean’s mum Lynne had dialled 999 and firefighters were able to prevent major damage to the home and nobody was injured.
As reported yesterday, crews from Hightown fire station spent an hour and a half bringing the blaze under control, restricting much of the fire damage to the outside.
But yesterday, the incident took a fresh twist as police and specialist arson investigators were called in to probe the cause of the fire amid suggestions it may have been started deliberately.
The drama unfolded at about 2.50am yesterday as four people were sleeping in the property.
Neighbour Rachael Clark said that Dean’s quick actions had saved lives and described him and his family as “heroes”.
She added: “I believe this situation could easily have spiralled and I definitely think it could have cost lives.”
Speaking after the drama, Dean, a driver’s mate, said: “It was one of those times that you are just so grateful that everybody is still alive.
“I am really proud of my family.
Because we acted quickly I think it helped save lives.”
Fire investigator Dave Lock praised the actions of the Masons, adding that they had potentially saved lives.
“It had the potential to be a serious situation,” he said.
“If the flames had gone into the roof space then there was storage up there and if that had caught alight you would have had a fire above where people were sleeping.”
Anyone with any information about the incident should call police on 0845 045 4545.
Location of the fire
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