Before first responders could report an incident of a travel trailer on fire in the Walmart parking lot in Wharton, 42-year-old Wharton resident and small business owner Nolan Allen stepped in to contain the fire.
Allen was paying for gas at the neighboring gas station when he said he saw an older man attempting to put out a small fire in his camper.
His immediate thought — run over to help.
“The first thing I did was to begin unhooking the propane tanks and to try and unhook the RV,” Allen said in a social media post.
Allen continued recounting the incident, “The guy was so scared and shaking; he didn’t know which key unlocked the hitch. So, I got real calm and went [through] each, asking, ‘Is this the key? Is this the key?’ Until he finally remembered which one was for unlocking the hitch.”
Allen said the time it took to lower the jack on the camper seemed like forever, but he remained calm and worked diligently until the propane tanks were disconnected and the truck was free from the trailer.
“He told me he was so scared he didn’t know what to do,” Allen said.
Having injured his foot recently in an unrelated incident just days before, Allen said the pain didn’t have a factor in his actions.
“When you see someone in danger, all your pain goes away,” he said. “But after I helped him, my foot began hurting again.”
Allen said the man was returning home from a trip to Maine, and was only one day away from his home.
“I was like, ‘You are lucky it didn’t happen on the freeway,” he said.
The Wharton Volunteer Fire Department arrived on scene shortly after Allen disconnected the truck and travel trailer, and worked to distinguish the flames before any further damage occurred.
Allen said, “Thank you, Jesus, I was able to help him!”
