20.09.2013.
Military police officer rescues an old woman from fire
If it is true that non-commissioned officers are most directly responsible for the training of soldiers, then Sergeant First Class Ranko Pasic , along with several colleagues , has set an example for young members of the Serbian Army to make decisions in a split second without thinking when it comes to helping people in need.- If it was not for this man who rescued me from the flames which were already consuming my house just a few days ago, I would have been more seriously injured or even dead, May God grant him long life - says 78 year old Ljubica Lazarevic , who was rescued from the fire in her house on 11 September by Sergeant First Class Ranko Pasic , Chief Petty Officer of the Third Military Police Battalion together with his colleagues . Ljubica’s house is close to the barracks, " Prince Mihailo" in Nis. The old woman when fire broke out was left with severe burns on her left hand, under the neck and face.
If it is true that non-commissioned officers are most directly responsible for the training of soldiers, then Sergeant First Class Ranko Pasic , along with several colleagues , has set an example for young members of the Serbian Army to make decisions in a split second without thinking when it comes to helping people in need.
- It was past 3 p.m. and four colleagues from work and I headed home. We saw smoke in the courtyard of one of the nearby houses, and some older man from the neighborhood shouted " An old lady is inside." The house has three rooms , a corridor, which had been completely consumed by fire, located on the back side . Colleagues started to break windows facing the street, in order to see the old lady . I ran into the yard , looked for the old lady, but I could not see anything from smoke. I got wet at the fountain , I covered my head with a wet cloth , breathed in and ran into the burning house – as Sergeant Pasic recalls. – The hall has already been affected by fire , and both rooms were filled with thick black smoke from burning timber , plastic, rubber and leather . The old woman was not in the hall. I looked into one of the rooms and saw her lying on the floor, barely conscious . Then tiles started falling off the roof..
Sergeant took out the lady in is arms in just a few steps, as he could not breathe from smoke. Those few minutes , he said, seemed like an eternity .
- Never has the time passed more slowly . At one point I even twisted my ankle but luckily without any consequences as 43 year old military policeman remarks . - When I left , I gave the old lady to captain Zoran Bozovic , who gave her first aid . With colleagues I continued to out the fire, and very soon both the ambulance and firefighters came . The next day I went to see the old lady.
Ljubica welcomed her savior and his colleagues in her home. She could even remember the event from the day before.
- I was making jam from peaches in the backyard. At about noon the fire in the furnace died out. I spent the afternoon watching TV and I fell asleep on the couch. However I cannot explain to myself how I found myself by the door. I am sure, however , that the fire broke out due to old and faulty installation s. I have not lived here for 55 years. It is my summer house as I spend the winter with my son in Belgrade - she explains.
Besides Pasic and Bozovic sergeants first class Dejan Ilic, Milan Jankovic and Zeljko Pesic and corporals Boban Ilic and Stevan Ignjatovic also took part in this feat.
