A Bravery Medal for Stuart Romm

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Sydney’s Stuart Romm has been awarded the Bravery Award by Governor-General David Hurley.

The citation reads:

Stuart Romm today

Dr Stuart Malcolm ROMM, Bellevue Hill NSW 2023

Dr Stuart Romm displayed considerable bravery during the rescue of an elderly man from a burning house at Bellevue Hill in New South Wales on 3 August 2010.

In the evening Dr Romm was in his upstairs home office when he heard a loud bang from his next-door neighbour’s house. When he looked out of the window he observed flames that were leaping six metres into the air.

Concerned for the safety of his elderly and not fully mobile neighbour, Dr Romm dialled 000 and ran to the front door of the burning house. He was able to open the screen door, but the front door would not budge.

Dr Romm could see the elderly man inside the house and ran to the back of the residence, which was well ablaze. Through the flames, he could see the man standing in one spot and not moving towards the door.

Dr Romm entered the dwelling and moved quickly through the flames to reach his neighbour.  He dragged the coughing and spluttering elderly man through the flames to safety.

Emergency services arrived on the scene and paramedics treated the man.

Stuart Romm told J-Wire: “I had no idea that anyone had nominated me for this award. I was completely surprised. I feel very honoured to be nominated. I don’t feel as if I did anything unusual. I believe that we have a social contract, that we are part of the community, and I had interacted with and seen my neighbour nearly every day.

I didn’t think twice about it and felt it was something that I had to do. I am delighted, very honoured, and I feel extremely humbled to receive this award.

What I recall was that when I tried to get in, everything was aflame, my neighbour was standing in the doorway and he was panicking. I had to half carry and lift him to try and drag him outside. Then the police and firefighters arrived. 

At the time, I told J-Wire about the fire. I said then and will say it again now anyone would have done the same thing.”

FROM J-WIRE, AUGUST 5, 2010

Stuart Romm, president of the NSW Jewish National Fund, risked his life rescuing his neighbour from his blazing home.

Stuart Romm

Romm was in the upstairs office of his Bellevue Hill home on Tuesday evening skyping his grandchildren in Israel when he heard a loud bang from his next-door neighbour’s home.

He told J-Wire: “I looked out of the window and saw flames leaping 20ft into the air and was immediately concerned for the safety of my neighbour.”

82-yr-old Sid Green, who is not Jewish, was asleep in the front of his home totally unaware of the inferno which was ripping through the kitchen at the back.

Romm continued: “After dialling 000, I ran to the front door and although I was able to break through the security screen, I could not budge the front door. Sid did wake up…but thought I was a burglar trying to break in. I ran around the house to the back which was well ablaze…and through the flames in the kitchen I could see Sid standing there. He has no toes but can walk with the aid of a stick…but he seemed frozen to the spot. In what has to be a miracle, I ran through the flames to the other side of the kitchen and reached him. My attempts to carry him using the standard fireman’s lift failed and I dragged him back through the flames to safety. It was all over in 90 seconds. He was coughing and spluttering but he was unharmed…and so was I.”

The only effect the fire had was to singe Romm’s jumper.

Romm added: “I reacted through sheer instinct…I didn’t think for a second…it really was a miracle.”

Romm said that he “talked every day” with his neighbour and that “anyone would have done the same thing”.

Sid Green stayed at Romm’s home until 3 a.m. when one of his three daughters picked him up.

For Manchester-born Stuart Romm this was more than another day in the office but he added: “In my capacity as a business manager, I have witnessed and been involved in the evacuation of a few industrial fires.”