BARDSTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) --Â A 10-year-old Nelson County boy has a story for the ages after his quick thinking helped him rescue an 82-year-old woman with dementia as her face caught on fire.
Alistair Leger called Nelson County 911 around 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, scared for his friend Bobby Hall.
"I got the fire out but there's a bunch of smoke and stuff," Leger can be heard telling Nelson County EMS Dispatcher Carissa Billings.
"Okay so, so she's on oxygen and was smoking and it caught fire?" Billings asked.
"Yeah I got the fire out but she's like, really a bunch of smoke," Leger responded. "I don't want her to die."
Hall is an 82-year-old woman with dementia who lives around the corner from the Bardstown ice cream shop where Leger's mom works.
Bobby Hall
"She's really nice, and I like watching movies with her," he said.
Leger plays with Hall's great-grandson. But he had left to run a quick errand with his dad on Saturday, so when the fire started, the fourth grader was all alone with Hall.
"She was smoking a cigarette and she like dropped it on her breathing tube and it caught on fire," Leger explained in an interview Tuesday with WDRB News. "She was like on fire so I got all the fire out but I was really scared also."
Leger said he ran to the kitchen and kept filling cups and a bucket with water to douse the flames and pat her out along with the chair she was sitting in kept that kept smoldering and reigniting. After moving Hall to the couch, he called for help.
"So she is breathing, is she talking to you?" Billings asks Leger in the 911 call.
"Yeah, she's OK, she's sitting on the couch," Leger responded. "For some reason she didn't want me to call 911, I don't know why."
Bobby Hall, 82, was sitting in this chair on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022, when it caught fire. She was rescued thanks to the quick thinking of 10-year-old Alistair Leger.Â
By the time Bardstown firefighters reached the scene, Leger was waiting outside to direct them into the home.
"It was really outstanding the amount of courage and bravery that this boy had," said Todd Spalding, interim Bardstown fire chief. "This could have been tragic. She could have lost her life, it could have extended into the structure."
Leger's mom said Hall suffered third-degree burns on her face and neck and she remains in the Burn Unit at University of Louisville Hospital.
While Leger's bravery and quick thinking are being credited with saving Hall's life, Megan Leger couldn't be more proud of her son.
"Very proud actually. I work a lot, so to know that he's still just this wonderful boy makes me very happy," Megan Leger, said. "I'm very grateful for him and I'm sure Bobby is too."
Alistair Leger, 10, and his mom, Megan Leger. (WDRB photo)
So are Bardstown firefighters.Â
"We got it planned out to do a presentation at the school, in front of all his peers and stuff at school," Spalding said.
Because Leger has a story for the ages, perhaps the tale of what he wants to be when he grows up. When asked if he wants to be a firefighter, he said "Kinda, yeah."
Leger said he wanted to thank Billings, the 911 dispatcher who kept him calm on the phone, the first responders on the scene and the doctors treating his friend at the hospital.
Bardstown Fire plans to present Leger with a plaque at his school, Foster Heights Elementary, on Friday, Dec. 16.
Alistair said he learned what to do in a fire at school.
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