PICTURES from September 8, 2007 MEETING
He´s not a firefighter, but he ran into the flames.
“You´re coming with me,” he said as he picked up Sue Abraham and carried her out of her burning mobile home.
Abraham´s neighbors told the story about the blast that rattled the Mossy Oak Mobile Home Park and the hero, a stranger, who rescued the distraught 63-year-old Inverness woman.
Walter Ray Nichols III, 27, was on his way back to work after his lunch break on Tuesday, July 17. He is an ironworker and was building Elementary School “A” the day he became a hero.
Nichols spotted the engulfed mobile home, pulled his car to the side of the road, jumped out and ran to Abraham´s aid. She did not want to exit the home, Nichols said.
Abraham refused to leave because her beloved pets — four kittens and three birds — remained inside, she said. Yet Nichols knew the danger they both faced if they remained inside.
The charcoaled frame of the house still sits on Lot 2 of 327 S. U.S. 41. Yellow caution tape surrounds the scorched property, and a red sign with the bolded word “unsafe” warns passersby of the unsteadiness of the structure. Three weeks after the fire, the smoke stench remains in the air.
Abraham was cleaning her oven when the pilot light broke, she told members of Citrus County Fire Rescue. Then, she sprayed oven cleaner into the oven, heard an explosion and ran for a garden hose, her only defense. She did not want to lose her home again.
In January 2002, her mobile home burned to the ground due to faulty wiring, said Abraham´s neighbor and long-time friend, Pat Gonzalez.
On July 17, Abraham lost her home for the second time — but she did not lose her life, thanks to Nichols.
“It´s a miracle this woman is sitting here,” Gonzalez said. She did not know whom to credit with the rescue, because Nichols´ left after rescuing Abraham.
Nichols drove away because he had to get back to work, he said.
The day after the incident, Nichols´ mother, Sharon Nichols, watched her son search the newspaper. She was curious to know what was so important. She later found out Walter wanted to see Abraham´s condition.
“We (Nichols´ family members) had to squeeze it out of him,” said Sharon, a Hernando resident. He didn´t want to toot his own horn, she added. Family members contacted the media and pushed Nichols into the spotlight.
“Grandma´s proud of him ... everyone´s proud of him,” Sharon said. “He could have been hurt.”
Sharon was not surprised her son rescued Abraham. It´s his nature to help people in need, she added. Walter went to New Orleans, La., after Hurricane Katrina and worked extra jobs for no pay, Sharon said.
“When I told his sister (about the rescue) she said, ‘That´s my Walter,´” Sharon said.
Currently, Walter is far from the scene of the fire, building cell phone towers in New Jersey, but Abraham lives in a mobile home around the corner from his home. The day of the fire, Sandy Saunders, manager of the mobile home park, offered her another lot.
Instead of a doormat, two bowls sit in front of Abraham´s new mobile home, one filled with water and the other with cat food. One of her most important possessions, a small white and brown cat, stares out the window. Abraham was not available for an interview.
Volunteers from the American Red Cross were on scene the day of the fire and gave her funds for food. She did not want to accept clothing donations, an American Red Cross spokesperson said. Also, they offered to relocate Abraham to a hotel and referred her to other aid agencies.
Abraham decided to salvage what she could from a small shed near her burned home and move into Lot 104.
