"These young people were great," breathes Nicole Boutin, still groggy on this crazy night. "Courageous, correct and sensational," says Pierre, her husband paralyzed in both legs. On the night of Monday February 24 to Tuesday February 25, these 80 year old pensioners were saved from the flames and certain death by fifteen teenagers in Villegats, a village of 210 inhabitants located north of Angoulême, in Charente.
These young people were celebrating a birthday in the village hall adjoining the town hall when one of them, having gone out to get some fresh air, saw the fire around 2:30 am. The fire was already devouring the barn and the roof of the Boutin couple. The rest is Antoine Bourreau who tells it. He was the one who was blowing out his 17 candles that night: “We immediately called the firefighters and everyone went to the house. We knocked on the windows before breaking down the door to enter. ”
Family photos also saved
The teenagers quickly fall on Nicole Boutin, still asleep. The octogenarian shows them the room where her husband sleeps. "I heard noise, of course, but I had no idea of the time," recalls Pierre Boutin. I thought that workers were working on the building site next door. Young people do not procrastinate. They must lift him up and install him in his wheelchair. "We got down to four or five, I don't know ... Then I pushed the chair to the outside of the house," says Antoine Bourreau.
"They didn't know how to lower the barriers of the bed!" They passed him over to sit him in his chair, ”says Nicole Boutin. In the heat of the action, the retired woman warns the teenagers: fuel is stored in the barn. "It exploded when we were still in the house. We were very scared but we only did our duty, explains Hugo Pascaud, 16. No one thought about it, otherwise they would surely die. "
These guardian angels, all minors, even think of evacuating some goods. "Family photos, invoices, furniture and a TV," says Rémi Guillerme, 16. We also took all the blankets we found. It was very impressive, it exploded anyway! When the firefighters arrived, the octogenarian couple were already safe, surrounded by teenagers struck by a hell of an adrenaline rush.
The gendarmerie should reward their act of bravery
"I found myself in the village hall, without understanding much," says the retiree. “When I arrived, they were all around Pierre and Nicole Boutin, advances the mayor of Villegats, Fabrice Geoffroy. The gendarmes had just called me. They said to me, "Don't worry, young people are not alcoholic. They even saved two people! »» To thank them, the elected official decided to offer the rental of the village hall to adolescents.
Viviane Godemer, Rémi's mother, also received a call from the gendarmerie: "I was very scared ... In these cases, we always think of the worst. But the gendarme quickly reassured me, he was even moved to tell me what they did. It’s heroic, I’m very proud. They still went there without asking questions! Young people are still struggling to measure the scope of their action. "It's weird, coward Antoine Bourreau. We're more shocked this morning, but we don't really realize. We saved the lives of two people, that’s why… ”
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For Rémi Guillerme, “it's human to do that, we just say it's normal. The gendarmerie, which has opened an investigation to determine the origin of the incident, should reward their act of bravery in the days to come. The retirees have been relocated with relatives in Villegats. No one was injured in the fire. This anniversary, smiles Nicole Boutin, "they will remember it for a long time".
