Walked outside naked in the winter to save his family

Vífill Valgeirsson had to run naked from his rural home in northern Iceland to the closest home to save his wife and mother-in-law from a fire on the night before Christmas. The fire was put out and everyone was saved, but his wife had to spend Christmas in a hospital due to smoke poisoning.

"We had an electrical heater in the house that started the fire. We had all gone to bed, but fortunately I awoke quickly and managed to get out. I ran over to the next home, from which I could call the fire department." Thus described Vífill what happened that night. He adds that the fire department responded quickly and saved the women still inside.

"When I got outside the front door closes and locks behind me. I managed to break a window to try to open it from the inside, but by then the fire had reached the door. The heat was too much for me to get back inside, so the only option left was to run to the neighbours.

Vífill and the two women were in the house known as Bjarg just outside of Akureyri when the fire started. The house is badly damaged after the fire and the lower floor is destroyed, according to Vífill.

"I called my wife and tried to shake her, but clearly I didn't do enough, she was fast asleep," Vífill says about the other people in the house. "Fortunately everything went well. We're all getting better. My wife was in there the longest and she got a mild case of smoke poisoning but she'll recover and is home and everything will be fine."