Salute to heroes: Winston-Salem 'Superman' saves neighbor from house fire

EVER FIRED DURING HIS ARREST. THE AMERICAN RED CROSS CONTINUES TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR LOCAL FIRST RESPONDERS, VETERANS AND GOOD SAMARITANS FOR THEIR SELFLESS ACTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE TRIAD. GREENSBORO IS HOSTING THE 11TH SALUTE TO HEROES AWARD CEREMONY NEXT WEEK. IT’S COMING UP THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21ST, AT THE COLONNADE AT REVOLUTION MILLS. KENNY BECK JOINS US IN STUDIO RIGHT NOW TO TELL US MORE ABOUT TONIGHT’S HERO, KENNY. WELL, CHRISTINE, DAVONTE, THIS HERO QUITE LITERALLY PULLED A WOMAN FROM A BURNING BUILDING LAST SUMMER IN WINSTON-SALEM. FRIENDS CALL HIM SUPERMAN. HE SAYS HE WAS JUST BEING NEIGHBORLY. MEET ROOSEVELT HUDSON, JULY FIFTH, 2022. A SHORT TIME BEFORE CLARK AVENUE IN WINSTON-SALEM LOOKED LIKE THIS. B.J. HARPER WENT TO CHECK ON HER ADULT DAUGHTER, SONYA SMALLWOOD. SHE HAS DEMENTIA AND USUALLY HAD SOMEONE STAYING WITH HER. I COULDN’T GET IN THE BACK DOOR AND I SAID, OH, –. I LOCKED THE SCREEN DOOR. THAT’S STORM DOOR. SO I CAME AROUND TO THE FRONT AND IT WAS LOCKED AS WELL. SO I SAID, SONYA, SONYA AND I LOOKED IN THE WINDOW AND ALL I COULD SEE WAS FLAMES ON THE BED. THAT’S WHEN SHE LOOKED NEXT DOOR AND FOUND HER DAUGHTER’S LONGTIME NEIGHBOR AND FRIEND, ROOSEVELT HUDSON, SITTING IN HIS TRUCK. SHE CALLED ME AND THE FIRST THING SHE SAID WAS DIAL 911. WHILE THEY WAITED FOR THE FIRE DEPARTMENT TO ARRIVE, ROOSEVELT KICKED IN THE BACK DOOR AND FINALLY GOT IN THE HOUSE. I KNEW THE HOUSE BECAUSE I’VE BEEN IN THE HOUSE NUMEROUS TIMES AND I WENT FROM ROOM TO ROOM CALLING FOR MISS SMALLWOOD AND I DIDN’T I DIDN’T GET ANY RESPONSE. THEN HE GOT TO THE BEDROOM, AND AS SOON AS I KICKED THAT DOOR IN HEAT AND SMOKE, JUST OVERCAME HIM. SO I STEPPED BACK INTO THE HALLWAY AND AND NATURAL INSTINCT IS TO RUN OR OR GET AWAY FROM DANGER. BUT SOMETHING ELSE SAID, YOU KNOW, TRY AGAIN. I SEEN A SILHOUETTE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FLOOR, FLAMES BEHIND IT. SO I BENT. I BENT OVER A LITTLE BIT, WENT IN, GRABBED HER, PULLED HER INTO THE HALLWAY, AND WE FELL RIGHT HERE IN THE HALLWAY. AFTER THAT, HE DRAGGED HER SAFELY OUTSIDE WHERE HER MOM AND FIREFIGHTERS WERE WAITING. I JUST KNEW EVERYTHING WAS GOING TO BE OKAY ONCE HE KICKED THAT DOOR IN. HEY, I WAS ALL RIGHT. DEFINITION. THAT’S RIGHT. THIS VIDEO FROM THE WINSTON SALEM FIRE DEPARTMENT SHOWS SMOKE POURING FROM THE BEDROOM WINDOW OF SONYA’S ROOM. SHE SPENT ABOUT TWO MONTHS RECOVERING FROM HER INJURIES AND LOST EVERYTHING. SHE OWNED. BUT SHE SURVIVED THANKS TO HER BRAVE AND HEROIC NEIGHBOR. I WAS BEING LED BY A POWER OTHER THAN MYSELF. SO THERE WAS NO FEAR, YOU KNOW? I MEAN, I HAD TO BE, YOU KNOW, CONSCIOUS OF WHAT I WAS DOING, WHICH I WAS. HE IS MY SUPERMAN. I TOLD HIS WIFE I SAID, I’M SORRY. HE’S NOT THERE. I’M SO GRATEFUL THAT HE WAS THERE AT THAT TIME BECAUSE IF HE HADN’T BEEN THERE, I HATE TO THINK WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED. I FEEL HONORED AND HOW HAPPY THAT, YOU KNOW, THAT I WAS. I WAS ABLE TO BE A TRUE NEIGHBOR INSTEAD OF JUST SOMEONE WHO LIVED NEXT DOOR. THE WINSTON SALEM FIRE DEPARTMENT RULED THAT BEDROOM FIRE WAS UNINTENTIONAL. B.J. HARPER SAYS SHE BELIEVES HER DAUGHTER WAS BURNING INCENSE AT THE TIME. SONYA WAS ABLE TO MOVE BACK INTO HER NEWLY BUILT HOME IN LATE MARCH OF THIS YEAR. IT’S A GREAT STORY, KENNY. THANK YOU. THIS IS JUST THE FIRST OF MANY STORIES WE’LL BRING YOU IN THE COMING DAYS ABOUT THE HEROES LIVING RIGHT HERE IN THE TRIAD. IF YOU MISS ANY, YOU CAN FIND TH

Salute to heroes: Winston-Salem ‘Superman’ saves neighbor from house fire

‘I feel honored and happy that I was able to be a true neighbor instead of someone who just lives next door’

Roosevelt Hudson of Winston-Salem is one of this year’s Salute to Heroes award winners, as chosen by the American Red Cross of the Piedmont Triad. Back on July 5, 2022, he saved his neighbor’s life by dragging her out of her burning home.Earlier that day, B.J. Harper, of Winston-Salem, went to Clark Avenue to check on her adult daughter, Sonya Smallwood. Sonya has dementia and usually had someone stay with her, but on this day, she did not.”I couldn’t get in the back door, and I said, ‘Oh, she locked the screen door, the storm door.’ So I came around to the front, and it was locked as well,” Harper says. “So, I said, ‘Sonya? Sonya?’ And I looked in the window, and all I could see was flames on the bed.”That’s when she looked next door and happened to see Hudson — her daughter’s longtime neighbor and family friend, sitting in his truck. After he dialed 911, he hustled over and kicked in the back door so he could have access to the inside of the house.”I knew the house because I’ve been in the house numerous times, and I went from room to room calling for Ms. Smallwood, and I didn’t get any response,” Hudson says. Then he got to her bedroom.”As soon as I kicked that door in, heat and smoke just overcame me, so I stepped back into the hallway, and natural instinct is to run or get away from danger, but something else said, ‘try again,'” Hudson says. “I saw a silhouette in the middle of the floor, flames behind it, so I bent over a little bit, went in, grabbed her, pulled her into the hallway, and we fell right here in the hallway.”Hudson dragged Smallwood safely outside, where her mother and firefighters were waiting. Harper says once Hudson went inside, she knew everything was going to be okay.Smallwood spent about two months recovering from her injuries and lost everything she owned, but she survived, thanks to her heroic neighbor.”I was being led by a power other than myself. So there was no fear, you know? I mean, I had to be conscious of what I was doing, which I was,” Hudson says.”He is my Superman!” Harper says. “I’m so grateful that he was there at that time because if he hadn’t been there, I hate to think what would have happened.””I feel honored and happy that I was able to be a true neighbor instead of someone who just lives next door,” Hudson says.The Winston-Salem Fire Department ruled the bedroom fire was unintentionally set. Harper says she believes her daughter was burning incense at the time. Smallwood was able to move back into her newly built home in late March of 2023.This year’s Salute to Heroes awards night is set for Sept. 21 in Greensboro at the Colonnade at Revolution Mills.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. —

Earlier that day, B.J. Harper, of Winston-Salem, went to Clark Avenue to check on her adult daughter, Sonya Smallwood. Sonya has dementia and usually had someone stay with her, but on this day, she did not.

“I couldn’t get in the back door, and I said, ‘Oh, she locked the screen door, the storm door.’ So I came around to the front, and it was locked as well,” Harper says. “So, I said, ‘Sonya? Sonya?’ And I looked in the window, and all I could see was flames on the bed.”

That’s when she looked next door and happened to see Hudson — her daughter’s longtime neighbor and family friend, sitting in his truck. After he dialed 911, he hustled over and kicked in the back door so he could have access to the inside of the house.

“I knew the house because I’ve been in the house numerous times, and I went from room to room calling for Ms. Smallwood, and I didn’t get any response,” Hudson says.

Then he got to her bedroom.

“As soon as I kicked that door in, heat and smoke just overcame me, so I stepped back into the hallway, and natural instinct is to run or get away from danger, but something else said, ‘try again,'” Hudson says. “I saw a silhouette in the middle of the floor, flames behind it, so I bent over a little bit, went in, grabbed her, pulled her into the hallway, and we fell right here in the hallway.”

Hudson dragged Smallwood safely outside, where her mother and firefighters were waiting. Harper says once Hudson went inside, she knew everything was going to be okay.

Smallwood spent about two months recovering from her injuries and lost everything she owned, but she survived, thanks to her heroic neighbor.

“I was being led by a power other than myself. So there was no fear, you know? I mean, I had to be conscious of what I was doing, which I was,” Hudson says.

“He is my Superman!” Harper says. “I’m so grateful that he was there at that time because if he hadn’t been there, I hate to think what would have happened.”

“I feel honored and happy that I was able to be a true neighbor instead of someone who just lives next door,” Hudson says.

The Winston-Salem Fire Department ruled the bedroom fire was unintentionally set. Harper says she believes her daughter was burning incense at the time. Smallwood was able to move back into her newly built home in late March of 2023.

This year’s Salute to Heroes awards night is set for Sept. 21 in Greensboro at the Colonnade at Revolution Mills.

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