Canadian Superman saves lives on way to Afghanistan

Soldier en route to Afghanistan saves family from fire

VICTORIA — A B.C. soldier deploying to Afghanistan Thursday made a pit stop on his way to the airport, saving two people from a house fire in the Victoria area.

Master Cpl. Carol Bastien was en route to the airport early Thursday morning when he noticed flames consuming the balcony of a family home.

M. Cpl. Bastien leapt out of the car, ran into the house, woke the family, battled the blaze and then called the fire department — all before rushing to the airport where a plane was waiting to take him to Afghanistan for his first tour of duty.
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Soldier en route to Afghanistan saves family from fire

House Fire Leaves Iraq War Veteran, Wife Homeless

House Fire Leaves Iraq War Veteran, Wife Homeless
A neighbor and friend helps the veteran, a stroke victim, to get out of the house as flames were increasing.
Story by D.K. Wright

DEEP RUN, Ohio -- The worst possible circumstances were all present on New Year's morning at a major house fire in Belmont County.
A recovering stroke victim was alone in the house, plus there were icy roads, no fire hydrants, a long distance for help to travel and the flames were prompting ammunition in the house to explode.

The house belongs to Joseph Ross and his wife Jenny.

Joseph, in his 40s, and a veteran of the Iraq War who was just recovering from a stroke, was at home alone Friday morning when he awoke to flames all around him.

"He said he was sleeping and he woke up and there was fire around him and he got his dogs out; he was over there counting the dogs and he got them out," said Linda Irwin, Ross' mother-in-law.

Neighbors who are dear friends reportedly got Joseph out the door to safety.
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http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=72793

Neighbor saves politician from burning home

Fire destroys Mount Dora candidate's home

By Martin E. Comas

Sentinel Staff Writer

12:07 p.m. EDT, October 7, 2009


MOUNT DORA - The home of former City Council member Fay Brooks-Williams, who is running for the at-large seat on the council this fall, was destroyed in a fire this morning, fire officials said.

Brooks-Williams was taken to Florida Hospital Waterman in Tavares after suffering from smoke inhalation, officials said. A neighbor had carried her out of the burning home, according to authorities.

"We heard that she is going to be all right," fire Chief Ronnie Snowberger said.

However, two of Brooks-Williams' three dogs, died in the blaze.
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Fire destroys Mount Dora candidates home

Neighbors help rescue man from Renton house fire

Neighbors help rescue man from Renton house fire
RENTON — Neighbors heard cries for help, broke a window and helped a firefighter rescue a man from a burning home near Renton in the Lake Desire area.

By The Associated Press

RENTON — Neighbors heard cries for help, broke a window and helped a firefighter rescue a man from a burning home near Renton in the Lake Desire area.

The man reportedly suffered burns on his back today and was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle in critical condition.

Neighbor Nick Vacca is a former firefighter and had turned a garden hose on the fire with his son Nick Vacca Jr. after they discovered it about 4 a.m. When they saw their neighbor at a window they broke it and pulled out the man, who is in his 60s.

Firefighters called a second alarm on the fire because of rough terrain and little access to water.
Neighbors help rescue man from Renton house fire

Police officers pull man from burning house

April 30, 2009

Police officers pull man from burning house

By MARK I. JOHNSON
Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- Steve Beres is the first to admit he is no firefighter.

"I would rather grab a guy with a gun on crack than fight a fire," the Daytona Beach deputy police chief said Wednesday afternoon.

However, just hours before, he and three of his officers braved flames and smoke to pull a 60-year-old man from his burning home.

Dean Frederick Sweeney suffered second-degree burns over 80 percent of his body when a lamp cord overheated, sparking a fire that engulfed the living room of his South Ridgewood Avenue home just before midnight Tuesday, police said.

Beres was on routine patrol when he said he saw smoke drifting through the streetlights. He investigated, eventually going door to door in the block, before seeing flames inside Sweeney's home.

When a neighbor told him it was likely Sweeney was inside, the officer began looking for a way in, but locked doors and heavy smoke and flames blocked his way.

"I could hear him yelling, 'Help me! Help me!" Beres recalled. "And I could see him through the flames."
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Police officers pull man from burning house

If you think you had a bad day, read this

Pasco man pulled from burning house, sent to jail
By Erin Sullivan, Times staff writer
Saturday, November 22, 2008

ZEPHYRHILLS — A few minutes before 11 o'clock Friday morning, Henry Morgan's wife called his cell phone. When he answered, he could barely make out her voice because she was crying.

"The house is on fire," she shouted.

And then the phone went dead.

Morgan didn't know if she was stuck inside the house. He kept trying to call her back, but her phone wouldn't pick up. He and his wife, Sherry, live in the 1,200-square-foot house with their three children — daughters Brandy, 17, and Sierra, 13, and son Cameron, 7 — along with several cats and dogs. One of the cats had just had kittens.

Morgan jumped in his pickup truck and sped to the house on Chester Drive in Zephyrhills. He and Sherry have been married for 20 years and the house is nearly paid off. But he works in construction and is only getting one or two days of work a week. Sherry, who had always been a stay-at-home mom, went to work at a daycare about a month ago. They didn't want to lose their house to foreclosure, so something had to go.

They canceled their homeowner's insurance.

When Morgan got to the house one side of it was engulfed in flames. There were three firetrucks, two rescue vehicles and tons of emergency workers. Morgan, 41, said he didn't see his wife or children or pets so he thought they were inside the house.

And he ran toward it.

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http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/fire/article912912.ece

Double tragedy grieves Lawrence MA after fire

Double tragedy grieves Lawrence
Late Sunday night, Sean Cahalane, a young, developmentally disabled man who was always eager to help others was the one in desperate need as a fire engulfed his house in Lawrence. His mother, 51-year-old Linda Cahalane, rushed back in to save her son. But both were killed, apparently overwhelmed by the smoke. (By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff)

Man pulled from burning house is revived because of thermal camera

Man pulled from burning house is revived
Thermal camera was key in rescue
By David Tirrell-Wysocki
Associated Press / October 27, 2008

A Massachusetts man was revived after being pulled not breathing from his burning seasonal home in Sanbornton, N.H., early yesterday after his wife jumped from a second-floor window to call for help.

Fire Chief John DeSilva said a firefighter using a thermal imaging camera found Robert Livoti of Waltham with little time to spare. Rescuers revived him outside.

"They were able to bring him back," he said.

The chief said the camera made all the difference in the blinding and deadly smoke.
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Women and children missing in massive house fires

Woman, 3 Children Missing In Blaze
4 People Missing In House Fires

POSTED: 5:07 am EDT October 22, 2008

HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. -- A massive blaze in Highland Park is under control as firefighters attempt to find a missing woman and three children.

Five homes on the 200 block of Waverly near Woodward and 2nd Avenue caught on fire around 3:30 this morning.

One of the residents in one of the homes, Willie Dale, said he managed to get out of the fire with his 10-month-old daughter, his girlfriend and his cousin. His 57-year-old mother, Josephine Dale, and his cousin's three children are still unaccounted for.
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http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/17776195/detail.html
Linked from RawStory

Nick Nolte's Malibu Home Destroyed By Fire

Nick Nolte's Malibu home destroyed by fire
The actor suffers a cut hand breaking through a window while trying to escape the fast-moving blaze.
By Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
2:16 PM PDT, October 7, 2008
Actor Nick Nolte suffered a cut to his hand escaping a fast-moving fire that destroyed his Malibu home, officials said today.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-nolte8-2008oct08,0,2777714.story

Timely patrol saves 7 from Clearwater fire

Timely patrol saves 7 from Clearwater fire
By Times Staff Writer
In print: Sunday, September 14, 2008

CLEARWATER — Police patrolling near Drew Street and Jupiter Avenue stumbled across a duplex fire around 4:25 a.m. Saturday and rescued seven people, including a 9-month-old baby.

Flames were spreading in front of one-half of the duplex at 220 N Jupiter Ave. when four officers from the Clearwater Police Department pulled up. Officer Nick Giordano smashed a window in the unit with the flames, and he and another officer, Doug Bailey, helped five people out of the window, including the baby.
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Fatal house explosion leaves father to cope with scars of girls

A Fatal Explosion Leaves a Motherless Family to Deal With a Multitude of Scars

By SHARON OTTERMAN
Published: August 26, 2008
It should have been a night without tears for the Alghaithi family. But as usual these days, they did not get much sleep.


First, curly-haired Lina, 3, woke up screaming after a nightmare that someone was following her. Then her older sister, Twka, 5, started crying and scratching at her burn scars. Their father, Rassas Alghaithi, 29, “slept and didn’t sleep” as he shuttled from bed to bed, cradling the children, he said in Arabic on Tuesday.

By the morning, the children were calm and happy for a few hours, running through the living room. Duaa, 6, the eldest, practiced the alphabet with Twka, as Lina, blind, learned her way by sound and touch through their new space.

“It’s beautiful,” she said.

After 10 months in a homeless shelter, Mr. Alghaithi (pronounced al-GAY-thee) and his four daughters moved into a light-filled apartment in a two-family home in South Ozone Park on Monday night, sleeping in their own beds for the first time since a gas explosion destroyed their apartment in Harlem in October. The explosion killed the girls’ mother and left them with severe injuries and scars, both mental and physical.
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Intense fire leaves 8 homeless, kills three cats near UCF

Orange County Fire Rescue firefighter Darcy Lominy walks past the gutted apartment on Hunt Club Lane in east Orlando today after it was destroyed in an overnight blaze. (JOE BURBANK, ORLANDO SENTINEL / August 13, 2008)

Intense fire leaves 8 homeless, kills three cats
Walter Pacheco | Sentinel Staff Writer
6:58 AM EDT, August 13, 2008
Eight people are homeless, but safe this morning after an intense fire gutted out their apartments near UCF.

Although none of the victims was injured in the blaze, three cats died in the fire, Orange County Fire Rescue crews said.

The State Fire Marshal is investigating the blaze.

Fire rescue spokeswoman Marianne Nuckles said the fire started shortly before 11 p.m. at 2635 Hunt Club Lane, near the University of Central Florida. Witnesses told firefighters they saw heavy flames shooting from the roof and heard loud explosions, the report shows.
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Swampscott MA Firefighter to receive Liberty Mutual Award for rescue

Swampscott firefighter honored for rescue


By Debra Glidden / The Daily Item

SWAMPSCOTT - A 31-year veteran of the department is being hailed a hero for saving a woman in a house fire on June 26.

Firefighter Robert Randall, who was assigned to the ladder truck, said en route to the scene he heard people were trapped in the inferno so he wasted no time getting into the building upon arriving at the scene.

"Search and rescue is my primary responsibility," he said. "It was bad when we got there. I jumped off the truck and looked at the smoke rolling out. I knew I didn't have time to wait for them to run lines or anything. I got on my hands and knees and started in."

For his heroic efforts, Randall is slated to receive the Liberty Mutual FireMark Award early next month.
The award, which is only given to between 25 and 50 firefighters a year, "recognizes firefighters throughout the country who best represent their communities through their valor and selfless spirit."

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http://www.thedailyitemoflynn.com/articles/2008/07/30/news/news13.txt

Arkansas soldier returns to destroyed home needs your help

She is being redeployed in August and is worried about getting her parents settled first. Can anyone help them out with a donation or helping the family rebuild so this soldier will not have an extra burden to worry about?

Soldier on leave returns to burning home

The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jul 29, 2008 9:32:10 EDT

LITTLE FLOCK, Ark. — An Arkansas soldier serving with the Army in Iraq came back to the state on leave to surprise her family but instead found her family’s home destroyed by fire after a lightning strike.

Rebecca Beaird, 20, arrived July 23 and spent the day with family. When she and the family returned to the home later that night, they found that a fire had gutted it. Beaird had lived there with her parents and two sisters since 1999.

“It was sad because you think about everything that’s in there. My family lost everything,” Beaird told KHOG television.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/ap_housefire_072908/

Firefighter killed, 2 shot at burning Mo. house

Firefighter killed, 2 shot at burning Mo. house
Gunman shoots at emergency workers from smoke-filled St. Louis home
updated 11:44 a.m. ET, Mon., July. 21, 2008
MAPLEWOOD, Mo. - A suburban St. Louis firefighter was shot to death Monday and two other emergency workers were injured in a standoff with a gunman in a smoke-filled house.

The incident began with a report of a pickup truck fire Monday morning in Maplewood, a suburban town just southwest of St. Louis.

When firefighters arrived, someone began firing shots from a house that also appeared to be on fire. Police responded, and at least one officer was also reportedly struck.
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25781236/

TAMPA: Sole fire survivor ponders suicide

Sole fire survivor ponders suicide
By Robbyn Mitchell and Thomas Kaplan, Times Staff Writers
In print: Wednesday, July 2, 2008

TAMPA — Last July, Wallace Ecenia Jr. awoke to the acrid scent of smoke and hoisted himself out his bedroom window to escape his burning home. When he went to rescue his sleeping mother and sister from outside, it was too late.

The only survivor to the fire that destroyed their home, Ecenia, 48, struggled to cope, telling his family as the fire's anniversary approached that he wanted to kill himself, police say.

On Tuesday, that struggle came to an abrupt climax when an armed Ecenia barricaded himself inside a sedan near his family's north Tampa gem shop, launching a tense standoff that ended more than five hours later when police finally convinced him to leave his car.

After he spent an afternoon holed up without air conditioning outside Wally's Natural Wonders at 6007 N Armenia Ave., police lured Ecenia out of the car with the promise of water.

Relatives had been worried about him because next week marks the anniversary of the fire, said Laura McElroy, a spokeswoman for the Tampa Police Department. Juanita Ecenia, 77, and Michelle Ecenia, 53, died last July after an early-morning fire gutted their Egypt Lake area home.

Wallace Ecenia Jr. suffered only minor cuts and bruises in the fire. While his family apparently slept through the blaze, he awoke to find the door of his bedroom hot from the flames.

Firefighters found his sister dead inside the home at 8601 Twin Lakes Blvd., and his mother died at a hospital. His father, Wallace Ecenia Sr., who also lived there, was not home at the time.
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http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/article655311.ece

Spc. James Fair wounded in Iraq, protected at home by donation

Here's a story we don't come across too often but it raises and important issue the wounded do need to think about. Aside from a great human interest story of Tyco making this donation thru Homes For Our Troops, the wounded face additional dangers just living at home. It would be great if we were all aware of this.

Rapid Response Home Fire Sprinkler System Protects Iraq War Veteran
July 2, 2008

In an effort to raise awareness about the importance of installing home fire sprinkler systems and to honor America’s service men and women, Tyco Fire & Building Products donated a Rapid Response Home Fire Sprinkler System to a house built in Ross Township, Pa., for veteran Spc. James Fair by Homes for Our Troops.

Homes for Our Troops provides new or renovated homes that are specially adapted for severely wounded military service members at no cost to veterans and their immediate families.

James Fair suffered life-altering injuries in Fallujah, Iraq, in November 2003 while stringing barbed wire around an ammunition supply point. He stepped onto a makeshift enemy bomb, causing an immediate explosion. He lost his hands and sight in both eyes. Shrapnel also severely injured his right leg and caused a traumatic brain injury.

“For soldiers like James Fair, who have been injured so severely, the challenges are great -- especially in regard to house fires where residents have just minutes to safely escape their homes,” said Darren Palmieri, product manager at TFBP. “James deserves to live in a home that is designed to meet his needs and keep his family safe should a fire occur. We are proud that Rapid Response can now protect a courageous young soldier who has selflessly protected our country.”
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http://www.secprodonline.com/articles/64877/

19 year old Daniel Bateman hero saves neighbor from fire

Heroic neighbor saves man from burning S.F. apartment
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, May 19, 2008


(05-19) 17:45 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Daniel Bateman came to San Francisco from the San Fernando Valley to study nursing, but after Monday, he is thinking about a career change - to firefighting.

Bateman, a gangly 19-year-old who moved from Woodland Hills four months ago and spends his time skateboarding and flipping burgers at the In-N-Out at Fisherman's Wharf, is being called a hero. Fire officials said it was his quick thinking that saved a neighbor's life after the man's kitchen caught fire around 4 a.m. Monday in their Richmond District apartment building.

The victim, Jim Moyles, 50, was in critical condition late Monday at St. Francis Memorial Hospital with second- and third-degree burns over 20 percent of his body.
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Houston blaze injures 2 firefighters

May 15, 2008, 12:17PM
Blaze in northwest Houston injures 2 firefighters


By KEVIN MORAN
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Two Houston firefighters were injured fighting a blaze that gutted a northwest Houston home this morning.

The firefighters were taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital and suffered from second-degree burns, one on his face and one on his hands and face, said assistant Houston Fire Department Chief Tommy Dowdy.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5782325.html