A mother and her 4-year-old son who were caught in a house fire have a fighting chance at life thanks to the selfless bravery of a passerby. The Wyoming Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office shared the inspiring details. 32-year-old Ryan Pasborg, of Green River, saw flames coming from the bedroom window of a home as he was running late to work on Tuesday morning at about 4:30am. He decided to pull into the driveway right as two boys and a young girl came out of the home. When the children told him that their mother and 4-year-old little brother were still inside, Pasborg entered the home without hesitation. “Pasborg told authorities that he could not see anything inside because of heavy smoke, so he crawled on his hands and knees on the floor several feet into the kitchen before he bumped into the small child. He immediately grabbed the boy around the waist, picked him up and carried him outside. With a windchill temperature well below zero, Pasborg quickly put all four children in his truck to keep them warm before entering the burning home a second time, this time crawling through the kitchen deeper into the house in search of the children’s missing mother. Moments later, Pasborg found the woman lying on the floor, badly burned and struggling to breath. After dragging her outside, he noticed that she was unresponsive and no longer breathing, so he began performing lifesaving measures until she suddenly took a gasp of air and sat up.” Pasborg drove the family away from the raging fire to wait for first responders. “There are no words to adequately express the magnitude of Ryan’s bravery other than he is a perfect example of what it means to be a real hero,” shared Sweetwater County Sheriff John Grossnickle. “His actions speak volumes about the true content of his character, and people like Ryan are a testament to the overwhelming power and strength of community that we are so fortunate to share with one another as friends and neighbors.” The mother and boy were taken by life flight to a hospital equipped to care for their injuries. Around 25 firefighters fought the structural blaze for about 2 ½ hours. Investigation determined the likely cause of the fire was a hoverboard. Sadly, two dogs were lost in the fire.
