Man rescues neighbor from burning, smoke-engulfed home

GOLD BAR — Sean Armstrong was hanging out at home Tuesday afternoon when he smelled something burning.

The 27-year-old saw smoke outside.

“I heard someone, clear as day, yell, ‘Help!’” he said.

Armstrong asked others to call 911 before he ran to the burning mobile home along Goldbar Boulevard. A woman told him someone was inside. He could see the garden hose running into the house, as if someone had tried to fight the flames.

A man was face-down inside the door. He was screaming.

“The full top half of the door had smoke coming out of it,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong has a bad arm. Childhood bone problems were exacerbated by an unsuccessful surgery after high school, he said. Trouble with the arm lost him his job as a park maintenance worker, he said.

He’s a big guy, about 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds. The man in the house was taller and heavier.

Armstrong tried to pull the man to safety. He became overwhelmed with smoke and retreated to the yard, coughing. Then, the man stopped yelling.

“I knew that it was now or never,” Armstrong said.

He crouched to avoid the smoke and again dragged the man. This time he got the man’s head and upper body onto the porch. At that point, he heard him take a deep breath, he said.

When firefighters arrived moments later, the man was still in the doorway. He had life-threatening burns. He was taken in a helicopter to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

On Thursday, he was transferred out of intensive care, according to the hospital. He was listed in satisfactory condition. He is described as being in his 50s.

The cause of the two-alarm fire remains under investigation. It serves as an important reminder to “get out and stay out,” Gold Bar firefighters posted on Facebook.

Armstrong “risked his life to go in and help this guy,” Fire Chief Eric Andrews said. “It was so hot and smoky, anyone who entered that would have been risking their life, without any equipment. That’s pretty brave.”

After the fire, Armstrong went home, took a shower and coughed for a long time. The firefighters told him to seek medical attention if he starts feeling sick, but he thinks he’s OK.

Aside from living down the road, Armstrong didn’t know the man in the house.

“I didn’t have any obligation to him,” he said. “I was just doing what you’re supposed to do.”

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @rikkiking.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Vehicles travel along Mukilteo Speedway on Sunday, April 21, 2024, in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Mukilteo cameras go live to curb speeding on Speedway

Starting Friday, an automated traffic camera system will cover four blocks of Mukilteo Speedway. A 30-day warning period is in place.

Carli Brockman lets her daughter Carli, 2, help push her ballot into the ballot drop box on the Snohomish County Campus on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Here’s who filed for the primary election in Snohomish County

Positions with three or more candidates will go to voters Aug. 5 to determine final contenders for the Nov. 4 general election.

Students from Explorer Middle School gather Wednesday around a makeshift memorial for Emiliano “Emi” Munoz, who died Monday, May 5, after an electric bicycle accident in south Everett. (Aspen Anderson / The Herald)
Community and classmates mourn death of 13-year-old in bicycle accident

Emiliano “Emi” Munoz died from his injuries three days after colliding with a braided cable.

Danny Burgess, left, and Sandy Weakland, right, carefully pull out benthic organisms from sediment samples on Thursday, May 1, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
‘Got Mud?’ Researchers monitor the health of the Puget Sound

For the next few weeks, the state’s marine monitoring team will collect sediment and organism samples across Puget Sound

Everett postal workers gather for a portrait to advertise the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Snohomish County letter carriers prepare for food drive this Saturday

The largest single-day food drive in the country comes at an uncertain time for federal food bank funding.

Everett
Everett considers ordinance to require more apprentice labor

It would require apprentices to work 15% of the total labor hours for construction or renovation on most city projects over $1 million.

First responders extinguish a fire on a Community Transit bus on Friday, May 16, 2025 in Snohomish, Washington (Snohomish County Fire District 4)
Community Transit bus catches fire in Snohomish

Firefighters extinguished the flames that engulfed the front of the diesel bus. Nobody was injured.

Signs hang on the outside of the Early Learning Center on the Everett Community College campus on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021 in Everett, Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett Community College to close Early Learning Center

The center provides early education to more than 70 children. The college had previously planned to close the school in 2021.

Northshore school board selects next superintendent

Justin Irish currently serves as superintendent of Anacortes School District. He’ll begin at Northshore on July 1.

Auston James / Village Theatre
“Jersey Boys” plays at Village Theatre in Everett through May 25.
A&E Calendar for May 15

Send calendar submissions for print and online to features@heraldnet.com. To ensure your… Continue reading

Contributed photo from Snohomish County Public Works
Snohomish County Public Works contractor crews have begun their summer 2016 paving work on 13 miles of roadway, primarily in the Monroe and Stanwood areas. This photo is an example of paving work from a previous summer. A new layer of asphalt is put down over the old.
Snohomish County plans to resurface about 76 miles of roads this summer

EVERETT – As part of its annual road maintenance and preservation program,… Continue reading

Apartment fire on Casino Road displaces three residents

Everett Fire Department says a family’s decision to shut a door during their evacuation helped prevent the fire from spreading.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.