Port Hadlock: Fire victim credits mystery man for saving her life

PORT HADLOCK — Black, foul-smelling smoke made it impossible for her to see the front or back door of her apartment, so Laura Roberts stood in the tiny living room and screamed as flames raced through one four-plex at the Port Hadlock Apartments early Monday.

Her lungs aching, she kept screaming, afraid she might die.

Then a man’s voice called out to her.

“Get down on your hands and knees and crawl to the sound of my voice,” it said.

Roberts, a 25-year-old single mom of three, followed the sound of the voice and was soon standing outside watching the fire destroy the building. Her children, ages 9, 8 and 6, weren’t home at the time of the fire, they were staying with a relative.

“I’d like to thank that man, he saved my life,” Roberts said Tuesday morning as she took a few of her childrens’ trinkets out of her mother’s van that had been parked by the front door. The van, a 1996 Dodge, was also destroyed by the fire, but Roberts’ mom, Kim Vasenda, said it was insured. The van was the only thing insured at Roberts’ apartment.

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The rest of the story appears in the Wednesday Peninsula Daily News. Click on SUBSCRIBE, above, to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.

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