‘Amazing': Police Officer Hailed as a Hero for Saving Mother, Son From Burning Home

A Maine police officer is being called a hero, times two.

Skowhegan Police Officer Tim Williams may have single-handedly saved the lives of two people Friday, when he pulled a mother and son out of a burning building and performed CPR on both of them.

"I didn’t think at all, I just reacted," said Officer Williams, remembering how he got the call Friday evening that there was a mobile home burning, and a family could be trapped inside.

He was the first, and only responder to the scene, when he made the split-second decision to kick down the front door and search for someone inside.

When he got on his hands and knees and crawled inside what he called a “fully engulfed” home, he saw the silhouette of a body a few feet away. When Williams reached out, he realized there were two people: a mother, holding her son.

Williams pulled both of them out onto their deck, and got them both breathing again.

"I’m very grateful for what he did," said the victims’ family member, David Simpson.

The mother, Andrea Curtis, is in critical condition at Maine Medical Center. Her son, 4-year-old Tyler, is awake and breathing on his own at Shriner’s Hospital in Boston.

"We’re still cautious about both of them," said Simpson. "Had [Officer Williams] not been there when he was, I don’t know that we would be so cautiously optimistic."

Family members have set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for medical bills and replace their home and possessions. They are also accepting donations at three drop-off locations: 9 Harmony Road in Wellington, 8 Middle Road in Skowhegan and 1221 South Solon Road in Solon, Maine.

As the community rallies around the Curtis family, they are calling the officer nothing short of a hero.

"What he did was truly amazing," said Skowhegan Police Chief Don Bolduc. "After both patients were in the ambulance, he decides to let me know that he may have taken in some smoke and may have burned his face. But he grabs his flash light and decides to go out and start directing traffic."

Williams said it’s only hitting him now that he put his life on the line, and that he gave a mother and son a fighting chance.

Contact Us