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'Incredibly brave' lorry driver saves man from burning building

Kevin Sharkey
BBC News NI Dublin reporter
Social Media A still from a video shows a man on top of a Spar lorry. Beside the lorry, is a building on fire with smoke pouring out of the windows. cars and people are visible in the foreground. Social Media
Tomasz Zareba reversed his lorry up to the building to save the man who was trapped in the building

A groceries delivery driver has described how he used a lorry to rescue a man from a burning building in Dublin.

Tomasz Zareba reversed his lorry up to the city centre building to allow a man who was trapped at a third-floor window to jump to safety onto the roof of the vehicle.

Thick black smoke was billowing from the building in the Granby Row area of the Irish capital shortly after 08:00 local time on Monday when the Eurospar driver intervened.

Commenting on what happened, Mr Zareba, who is originally from Poland, described how the man was "screaming" for help at the time.

Tomasz Zareba A headshot of a man with short light hair and a goatee beard, He wears a black tshirt and stares into the camera. Tomasz Zareba
Tomasz Zareba went on with his deliveries after his heroic act

He said: "I just thought it would be much safer for him to jump on the lorry instead of the footpath."

"I saw the smoke coming from the window because my next delivery was just around the corner.

"I saw the flames coming up from the window and one guy was lying on the footpath. He had blood on his face, and I think he might have broken both his legs when he jumped from the building," he added.

"Another guy was screaming from the window. He didn't know what he was supposed to do because he had flames behind him, and the long drop below him.

"I reversed the lorry as close as I safely could to the window and the other lads from the footpath told him to jump on the roof of the lorry.

"He was ok, I think," Mr Zareba said.

"I asked him how many people were in the building, but he didn't know because he was in shock. I waited in case maybe somebody else would need to jump from the window.

"After a while, I pulled the lorry to a safe place and waited for the fire brigade. I waited another 20 minutes because the road was blocked and then the fireman came over and said, 'Grand job buddy, thanks for that' and I went on to finish my deliveries for the day."

'Quick thinking'

The driver has been praised by his bosses.

Joanne Mellon, Logistics Director of BWG Foods, which owns and operates the Eurospar brand in Ireland, said, "We want to commend Tomasz for his quick thinking to help this person escape from the burning building.

"It was an incredibly brave intervention, with the assistance of others who were in the area, in what must have been a very frightening experience. We hope those who were caught up in the incident make a full recovery.

Dublin Fire Brigade said seven people were treated at the scene and three were taken to hospital for treatment.