Several people are alive and safe after the swift actions of single mom during an overnight fire.
It happened when the heroine noticed a suspicious smell and leaped into action, saving her neighbors and her own daughter from a burning apartment building.
Susan Bowdich was sleepless Sunday morning when she heard crackling coming from the ceiling in her home at the Park Place Apartments, in Madison Heights.
“I was determined to find out where this was coming from,” said Susan.
She discovered the roof was on fire and quickly got her 7-year-old daughter out, with just the clothes on their backs.
Next, the spunky single mom went back inside for everyone else in the eight units in the building.
“I banged until they answered the door. We could hear people stirring. We just banged,” said Susan. “I was pretty determined to do whatever I could.”
Once firefighters got the scene, everyone made it out safely. Sue and her daughter lost everything in the fire.
Not sure how much time she had before the roof eventually collapsed, she never thought for a second about getting any of her own valuables.
“It never crossed my mind,” said Susan. “It was my daughter first and foremost and then other people, because I didn’t know where it was coming from. I knew a roof was on fire. I didn’t know how fast it would spread. People matter and that’s what it’s about. It really is.”
Since then, she has received donations for her and her daughter Shylla.
“She’s seven,” said Susan. “She doesn’t understand the big picture. She understands her toys are gone. Her Christmas is gone. Her little world is disrupted and everything is gone.”
But the biggest gift: their lives were saved.
While Susan risked her one life to save her neighbors, she does not think her brave actions were heroic. She believes God put her there for a reason.
A GoFundMe accounthas been set up to help Susan get back on her feet and to replace some of the Christmas presents for her daughter.
