Tailem Bend house fire hero receives bravery award

A Tailem Bend teenager who saved a woman from a house fire two and a half years ago has received a bravery award from South Australia’s Governor.

Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC gave bronze medals from the Royal Humane Society of Australasia (RHSA) to Sean Williams and two other recipients at Adelaide’s Government House on Tuesday.

Mr Williams is now 19 years old, but he was just 16 in 2024 when he performed an act that saved a woman’s life and changed the way he saw himself.

He and his grandmother were travelling along Railway Terrace when they spotted smoke coming from a single-storey weatherboard house, which was engulfed in flames.

Mr Williams said that he hadn’t thought before he entered the house and rescued an occupant lying unconscious inside the front door.

“It was just instinct, just seeing someone in need (who) needed a hand,” he said.

“(I) went straight to her.”

He downplayed the carbon monoxide poisoning and minor burns he received in the process.

After saving the woman, he felt proud, and rightly so.

“At least I did something good,” he said.

“It’s a big opportunity.

“I’m glad I did it, because otherwise I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Where he was on Tuesday was a prestigious event attended by high-ranking emergency services personnel who weren’t short on medals themselves, including SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens.

At the moment, Mr Williams is trying to find a job and get back into the carpentry profession.

It’s says a lot about the man that his motivation for getting a steady, well-paid job is to help someone else.

“My end game is to finally get fully qualified as a carpenter and have my own business, so I can look out for my daughter,” he said.

Beyond feeling proud about saving a woman’s life, his brave act has made him more aware of what he can achieve, and the award confirms this growing confidence.

“It means everything,” he said.

“It shows that I’m actually capable of doing things that I put my head to.”

Her Excellency also noted the self-confidence that being brave could instill.

“(There’s) a lot of focus at the moment on young people being willing to go outside their comfort zone in order to learn,” she said.

“I think there’s nothing that could be further from anyone’s comfort zone than running to save someone from fire or put yourself in a flood situation in order to rescue someone else.

“We celebrate and congratulate (Mr Williams), and we admire greatly what he did.

“I just hope he’s well supported to be able to carry that through his life, because he’ll be someone people can look up to.”

RHSA president David Arden said Mr Williams had demonstrated “extraordinary bravery”, in that “he saw someone in trouble and just went in and helped”.

According to Mr Arden, the bravery of people like Sean was good for communities’ capacity to bounce back.

“We want to try and help the community,” Mr Arden said, “and we want to try and build resilience in the community, so that people will step in and help each other, rather than just stand back and film, put it on social media and things like that.”

Also recognised on Tuesday were Adam Stone, who saved a man from a bushfire at Woodside in 2019; and Sergeant Joseph McDonald, who rescued a woman from a flooded creek at Mount Barker Springs in the same year.

Over its 150-year history, the RHSA has given more than 8000 awards for bravery.

Anyone can nominate people for the bravery awards, which are generally presented annually.

• More information: rhsa.org.au.