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The title of this editorial comes from Jesus’ words to a teacher of the Law during Holy Week. When asked what the greatest commandment was, He quoted from Deuteronomy 6:5: “ And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
He said that this the greatest commandment and that the second is like it: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
The night He was arrested, Jesus said to His disciples, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
Late last month Bedford County resident Mark Wingo put these teachings of Jesus into action. A neighbor’s doublewide had caught fire. Fires in doublewides progress very rapidly and this was no exception. When Wingo saw it, the place was ablaze. Two elderly women — sisters — lived in it and they were trapped inside.
Wingo could not just let those ladies burn. He had to do something.
Wingo is not a firefighter. He has no firefighter training. He had no protective gear. He had no respirator. He just had the clothes on his back.
With no concern for his own safety — he could have burned up — he ran into the fire.
He got the first lady out. Just barely. The front burst into an inferno just after he got her out to safety.
The second lady was still in the house. Wingo had to get her out, but he couldn’t go back in the front. That was now an inferno. So, he ran around the back. He just barely got in. He quickly found the second lady, but how would he get her out. He couldn’t go the way he came. The floor had collapsed in flames just behind her. The only way out was to smash one of two picture windows with a chair. But he didn’t have to do that. Both windows blew out and Wingo, who is a pretty wiry fellow, jumped out carrying the lady with him.
A Moneta rescue squad ambulance was the first responder to get there and John Singer and his partner arrived in time to witness Wingo’s heroics.
They checked everybody out. One lady was fine. Singer, knowing the inferno that Wingo had run through, persuaded Wingo to let Singer take him to Bedford Memorial. Wingo had inhaled a lot of very hot air and Singer knew there was a risk that his trachea could close and wanted to get him to a hospital before that happened. It didn’t. The only harm Wingo suffered was that long hair on one side of his head was singed.
The second lady was intubated by county fire and rescue as she had inhaled a lot of very hot air and, thus was at grave risk. She was taken to a burn center. However, she had no serious injuries. She just had cuts on her feet. She was released 36 hours later.
Wingo said God guided him. When he got in the burning house, a voice that sounded like his late son instructed him what to do. Then, at the last, when he made his riskiest move, a very deep voice took over.
Wingo believes he now has a calling to be a firefighter and has been encouraged to talk to his local volunteer fire department. They will train him and, the next time he runs into a burning building, he will have training a turnout gear. He certainly has the mentality for a firefighter. He has demonstrated that he is willing to walk through fire — literally — for the sake of his neighbors.
