Paul Pereira appears with Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas, left, and Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat, right, and guard Tomás Satoranský, far right, during last night’s Boston Celtics game. (Photograph Courtesy of the Boston Celtics.)
The UPS driver that put out a Haverhill porch fire last month received yet another honor Tuesday night when he was honored by the Boston Celtics as a “Hero Among Us.”
Paul Pereira, already honored by his employer and the City of Haverhill, appeared during the Celtics playoff game against Washington. He was honored for jumping out of his delivery truck the night of April 10 when he spotted furniture burning on the porch at 18 Hamilton Ave.
Pereira, of Manchester, N.H., had turned his truck from Main Street onto Hamilton Avenue. He stopped, ran up the stairs to the home and banged on the door to alert residents. A mother and daughter were home, but unaware a wicker table had caught fire and flames were beginning to travel up the side of the house. He worked with a neighbor to secure a garden hose and extinguished the fire.
“I did my best to limit the damage that was done to the house,” he told WHAV in an interview.