Brian Clemmer

Brian Clemmer helped rescue Jill A. Christensen from impending explosion, Berlin, Massachusetts, April 14, 2023. Christensen, 49, was asleep in her second-floor bedroom when a propane explosion in the basement leveled the two-and-a-half-story house. Christensen’s mother, 79, was asleep in her bedroom on the first floor. Christensen woke to being trapped beneath debris and a wooden roof beam. She screamed for help. Clemmer, 46, automobile repair shop owner, was at his house about 150 feet away when he woke to noise from debris hitting his house. He went outside along with his son and they heard Christensen screaming. With another neighbor, they responded to the property, seeing a debris pile where the house once stood. Clemmer and his son walked up the pile, stepping over a live, arcing power line, and reached the area near Christensen’s location. As flames burned about 15 feet away and moved toward them, Clemmer and his son punched and dug through the debris until one of her hands popped through. They cleared the remaining debris and saw she was pinned by the beam. Clemmer and his son tried to lift the beam but were unsuccessful. Another male neighbor responded, and, after multiple tries, the three men lifted the beam, freeing Christensen. As flames encroached the end of Christensen’s bed, Clemmer and his son lifted her from the bed, soon joined by the neighbor. With the flames spreading toward them, they moved Christensen toward the front of the debris pile, and she was then taken to a stretcher from a responding ambulance. As Clemmer, his son, and the neighbor moved from the debris pile, a second explosion sent flames 30 feet into the air. Firefighters were unable to rescue Christensen’s mother, who was trapped inside and died at the scene. Christensen, who was not burned, went to the hospital for injuries suffered in the explosion. She recovered. Clemmer was not injured.

2023-0000114-10530