Homeless victims of Portsmouth house explosion praise Royal Navy sailor for 'saving our lives' from burning wreck and thank community for support

Brave Jon Thornber leapt into action after hearing the home of his neighbours in Nelson Avenue explode on Friday, October 22.

The 41-year-old Petty Officer, who is based at HMS Collingwood, dashed into the burning building to search for survivors before saving pensioner Denise and her son Gary.

Once in the garden Jon spotted Gary ‘confused and dazed and suffering from burns’ before guiding him to safety before noticing Denise trapped in the hallway.

The windows, doors and frames had all been blown out by the blast and this, together with her injuries, meant she was unable to escape the flames.

Shouting reassurance and with no thought of his own safety, Jon entered the crumbling house, lifted her onto his shoulder and ran back through the debris and away from the home.

‘I just did what needed to be done and I didn’t give it a second thought,’ Jon said after the incident.

The mum and son have since been treated at a burns unit at Salisbury Hospital.

Following their ordeal, the pair have released a heartfelt thanks to Jon and the community which has rallied around in the days since the blast.

Gary told The News: ‘Thanks (to Jon) for saving our lives. If it wasn’t for him then my mum might not have been here.’

Gary has been left with significant burns to his face, hands and arms and underwent a skin graft on Saturday. Denise also suffered extensive burns to her hands and arms, Salisbury Hospital confirmed.

Gary said: ‘All the staff are looking after me and my mum very well, it’s great that we can be in a room together to support one another. We’re being asked to do a variety of tasks and exercises daily to help with our recovery.’

SEE ALSO: Appeal to find missing rescue dog

Southsea firefighters have since welcomed Jon into their station with open arms to thank him for his bravery.

Watch manager Simon Morford has nominated Jon for a Chief Fire Officer’s commendation and an award from The Society for the Protection of Life from Fire.

He said: ‘When we arrived, we found Jon and other neighbours were already giving first aid to the injured occupants.

‘They had sorted cooling buckets and were working alongside one of our firefighters to use our hose reel to cool their burns further.

‘We later found out that Jon had forced his way into the property, despite the fire, and pulled the lady to safety.

‘While we would never want anyone to put themselves in harm’s way, his heroic actions undoubtedly saved her life.

‘We wanted to thank Jon for the calm way he responded and thought he deserved to be recognised for his bravery.’

Fire investigators found that the most likely cause of the explosion was a gas leak from within the property.

In the aftermath of the incident, the community have rallied around in a number of ways to help raise funds for Gary and Denise.

Gary started working for Tesco in 1988 and the store he works for in Cosham had a cake sale at the weekend to help fundraising.

A JustGiving fundraiser set up by neighbour Gemma Jenkins has also smashed its £1,000 target after so far raising more than £1,500.

Gary added: ‘We would like to thank everybody for all their well wishes. We want to thank the fire services, police, the NHS and our whole community for everything they have done.

‘We also want to thank one of our neighbours Gemma Jenkins for her support in helping to raise funds.’

Gemma said: ‘The initial aim was to raise £1,000 and with the amazing generosity of the community we succeeded in doing so in less than three days.’

To donate go to: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/gasexplosionportsmouth

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

You can subscribe here for unlimited access to our online coverage, including Pompey, for 26p a day.