Blind man rescued from burning house by poultry plant worker

By Fran Jeffries

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Hall County man's training as a volunteer firefighter may have saved a life early Tuesday morning.

Tray Ross, 20, rushed into a burning home in Gainesville to save a 76-year-old blind man.

Ross was at work around 3 a.m. at a chicken plant on Purina Drive in Gainesville, across the street from the elderly man's house, when he and coworkers saw smoke. While coworkers called for help, Ross ran across the street to the burning house. "I ran up on the porch and beat on the door," Ross told the AJC. "I heard him say ‘Help me, I'm in here. Get me out.'"

Ross said he crawled on his stomach to find the man. He said the heat from the flames burned the inside of his nose as he inhaled.

“I finally grabbed his ankle and he grabbed my hand and I stood up and picked him up. I said, ‘I’m going to get you out of here,’ and he said, ‘That sounds great.’ I carried him to the front door,” Ross said.

After they were both safe outside, Ross said he asked him why he couldn’t find the front door. “He told me he was blind,” Ross said.

Ross and the man, who authorities have not identified, were taken to a hospital for observation. On the way, the man, who lives alone, asked paramedics about the extent of damage to his house, recalled Ross. The paramedic told him he probably wouldn't be able to live in the house again due to the damage.
"The man started to cry, and I started to cry and the paramedic cried," said Ross. "The gentleman said his grandfather had built the house."

Ross gave a lot of credit to the training he received as a volunteer firefighter in Blairsville.  "They taught me everything I know. It's just what I was trained to do. It's what I felt was right."