Some news stories about brides are typically relegated to the social pages, where the Neil Lane art deco engagement ring might be the highlight of the story, but not this one. The Bridgeport bride, Georgette Clemons, decided to do something different that made her story jump to center stage. On her special day, it wasn’t enough that she got married, but she also played makeshift firefighter as she boldly bolted into a burning house that she spotted on the way back from the reception, despite the fact that she was still wearing her wedding gown. Clemons, formerly Georgette Fogary earlier in the day, made the driver of her car stop when she saw the flames shooting out from a house en route back from the restaurant where the reception had just been held. Seeing someone still inside, she tried to get them to come out, and failing that, she ran inside to alert the homeowners to leave. Apparently, the homeowners, the Eitelbergs, were trying to get their pets out – two dogs and two ferrets – before they left the premises. Everyone made it out safely, pets and all, just in time for the real firefighters to show up as flames swept into the second floor of the home and poured out the windows.

Georgette Clemons won’t have a pristine gown to save in memory of her wedding day, but she’ll have quite a story to tell her children. She’ll be able to clip the news stories just to prove it’s true too. However, the gown was blackened and stained by the ordeal and might not be salvageable. The shoes were damaged too. Mrs. Clemons was folding it on the Eitelbergs’ lawn while the firefighters fought down the flames. What did she think of all this? “It’s been an eventful day,” she said, taking it all in stride.