Waco, TX - For the second time in less than 24 hours and third time in three days, Waco residents came to the aid of neighbors, helping to save them from an apartment fire.
Shortly after 4 p.m. Friday, a fire started in the kitchen of a first-floor unit of Robinson Drive Gardens Apartments, 2724 Robinson Drive.
A neighbor heard the fire alarm and went to the unit with his own fire extinguisher, putting out the fire in the kitchen of his disabled neighbor, an amputee who uses a wheelchair, said Assistant Chief Patrick Kerwin of the Waco Fire Department.
Kerwin wasn’t sure whether the disabled man would have been able to get out of the apartment without his neighbor’s help.
“I’ve got to hand it to the citizen who grabbed his own fire extinguisher and put the fire out,” Kerwin said. “It could have been a lot worse if he hadn’t done that.”
Referring to an early-morning apartment fire in which neighbors woke a sleeping man as his apartment burned, Kerwin said, “This is the second fire we’ve had (today) where the citizens have really stepped up.”
The disabled man, whose age and identity were not available, though Kerwin estimated he was in his 50s, was taken to Providence Health Center to be treated for smoke inhalation after firefighters administered oxygen when they arrived on the scene.
In the early-morning fire, neighbors are credited with awakening a sleeping resident as a grease fire spread through his kitchen.
The resident at the Sandstone Apartments, 5101 Sanger Ave., had fallen asleep after placing a pan of oil on the stove to cook, starting the grease fire, Fire Marshal Lt. David Fisk said.
Three neighbors were coming home around midnight and heard the smoke detector, then banged on the door of the apartment to wake the resident.
“The smoke had been so bad that it took quite a couple of trips running to the door for him to get out, because it kept driving him back to the bedroom,” Fisk said. “He eventually was able to unlock the door, and the three neighbors were able to help him out.”
The neighbors and the resident went back into the apartment and partially put out the flames using a fire extinguisher. Fire crews were called to the scene at 12:09 a.m. to put out the rest of the fire.
The first-floor apartment suffered heavy smoke and fire damage but did not appear to spread to other units, Fisk said.
“There were able to save a tremendous amount of damage from taking place just by using their heads and acting quickly,” Fisk said.
The Waco Fire Department was called to another fire at 2:41 a.m. at the Crestview Healthcare Residence, 1400 W. Lake Shore Drive. Nine fire units evacuated all residents as fire crews extinguished a fire started by a bathroom ceiling-vent fan. There were no injuries, Fisk said.
Friday afternoon, Waco fire Chief John Johnston awarded certificates of commendation to citizens who helped their neighbors evacuate during Wednesday’s fire at the Cimarron-Huntington Apartments, 10100 Panther Way.
Patricia Graham, 58, was saved from her second-story apartment by some quick-thinking neighbors.
They used a family heirloom, a more than 40-year-old flower pot, to smash a window, then carried her down a ladder.
Honored this afternoon at the Waco Fire Department’s Central Fire Station were: Dodd James Plant, Jose Palacios Jr., Cameron Thomas, Nicholas Jones, Aaron Berry, Amber Odle, Jessica Clark, Robert Yost, Trey Eickenhorst, Krislyn Upton and John Phillips.
A Providence nursing supervisor said Friday night that Graham was in good condition. |
