Georgetown MBA Student Rescues 4, Including Twin Toddlers, From House Fire

An MBA student from Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business rescued two grandparents and twin toddlers from a burning apartment in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Photo by Pete Piringer, Montgomery County (Maryland) Fire & Rescue Service

On the night of Saturday, January 23, George Totoreanu was doing what many current MBA students do during a pandemic: unwinding from the week. The 25-year-old Georgetown University McDonough School of Business student was playing a video game in his home office when he noticed what looked like flames flickering outside his window as he reached for a glass of water, according to a report from The Washington Post.

Indeed, they were flames. Throwing on his slippers and sprinting out the door from the townhouse he shares with his fiancée in Gaithersburg, Maryland into the frigid night air, Totoreanu saw that the fire was already engulfing another townhouse in the Sterling Terrace residential area, as well as a car in the townhouse driveway.

“I didn’t think about it at all,” Totoreanu told the Post. “I just went.”

Totoreanu began banging on the front door until an elderly man answered. The man was clearly confused and in shock, Totoreanu told the Post and local media outlets. Flames were spreading from the garage to the windows and doors of the lower level of the house. Totoreanu reportedly got the man down the front stairs and asked him if anyone else was in the house. The man confirmed that his wife and two young grandchildren were still in the house.

Initial Dispatch (~1120p 1/23) 10100blk Sterling Terrace, MOR TH, first arriving @mcfrs firefighters encountered heavy fire coming from the garage & extending upward (pre-arrival photo from neighbor) https://t.co/RROwN1Fpq1 pic.twitter.com/LX6IDwqAQM

— Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) January 24, 2021

George Totoreanu. LinkedIn photo

GEORGETOWN MBA STUDENT SAVED LIVES, AUTHORITIES SAID

Totoreanu ran up the stairs to find the man’s wife in a bedroom holding one of the 18-month-old twins. He scooped up the other and led the woman and the other twin down the stairs. Flames were beginning to encompass that level of the house and Totoreanu told The Washington Post he had to do a bit of coaxing to get the woman to run past the flames and out the door to safety.

But he did just that and got her out the door and onto the street before the entire townhouse was consumed by the fire. According to local news reports, it took 85 firefighters to put out the fire, which did not spread to other homes, but totally destroyed the townhouse the grandparents lived in as well as their car. Authorities estimated the total damages to be about $2.2 million.

Montgomery County Fire & Rescue spokesperson Pete Piringer told local media that those in the home likely would’ve died if Totoreanu hadn’t moved quickly and heroically.

FIRST-YEAR MBA STUDENT JUST MOVED INTO NEIGHBORHOOD

According to other local media reports, Totoreanu and his wife had just moved into the neighborhood a couple of months before the fire. If neighbors hadn’t noticed, they have now. Totoreanu told local media that he’s been receiving many thank-you notes and official welcomes from many neighbors.

Totoreanu joined Georgetown’s full-time MBA program last year, his LinkedIn profile says. He joined the program after five years as a manager and analyst in the U.S. Army and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Southern New Hampshire University.

Totoreanu also works in an apprenticeship for Amazon Web Services, according to his LinkedIn profile.

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