Mystery Construction Worker Helps Alert Boy to Flames at Middlesex Ave. Home

There was some burnt bark mulch and a little damage done to her Middlesex Ave. home’s porch. But Kathi O’Donoghue believes it could have been much worse. And now she wants to thank the man who made sure it wasn't.

O’Donoghue said that on Tuesday during her afternoon commute home, she learned that there had been a fire in front of her home that had been sparked when a worker on the property discarded a cigarette into the bark mulch in front of the porch.

By the time she arrived home, the fire was out and everything was in order. The reason, she said, is that a construction worker from the Wilmington High School site saw the flames pick up, ran over to the house to alert O’Donoghue’s son to get out, and stayed to make sure the flames were put out by a garden hose and the Wilmington Fire Department.

“I live in a 160-year-old house. So it wouldn’t have taken much for it all to go up in flames,” said O’Donoghue. “It was a good gesture by (the construction worker) and it made the difference. If my son had gone upstairs to another side of the house, he might not have heard anything going on, and it could’ve been a little too late.”

Though O’Donoghue knows it was a construction worker from the high school site, she does not know who the man was that she believes helped save her home.

She went over to speak to the foreman and left her name and number for the man to contact her, but hasn’t heard back.

“This day in age everyone is looking for something. That’s what makes it even more classy is that he hasn’t even stepped forward,” said O’Donoghue. “I would love to see this person get some credit. He had the best intentions, and it could have made the difference in my house burning down or not.”