Running into a burning building
November 7th, 2007, 3:19 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Brady Calhoun
I talked to several firefighters today about their work. One question I asked them was, “How do you manage to run into a burning building when everyone else is running away?” Their answer was “training.”
Firefighters receive “Life Saving” award after rescue
By S. Brady Calhoun
News Herald Writer
747-5075 / bcalhoun@pcnh.com
PANAMA CITY
It was 4 a.m. and the back of a Hickory Avenue house was engulfed in flame - just another day on the job for Panama City firefighters.
A crew from station 2 in St. Andrews, lead by Lt. Scott Flitcraft, arrived first.
“Fire was ripping up into the sky from the back of the house,” Flitcraft said.
As they began setting up a neighbor told the firefighters that a resident was still inside. Flitcraft felt certain the person inside would be dead. After 23 years on the job Flitcraft has seen how badly these things can go.
“Usually, people are dead by the smoke before you get there,” he said.
Flitcraft grabbed a hose and ran in first. Firefighter Ryan Smith rushed in behind him while Firefighter Andrew Shortt fed them hose from the door.
Inside the house the smoke was thick and it stretched from the ceiling to the floor. Flitcraft placed his hand over his eyes Wednesday to describe the visibility.
Blind but still moving, something, Flitcraft attributed it to God or luck, nudged them into making a right turn inside the house, Flitcraft said. If they had gone straight they would have ended up on the other side of the one-story, wood-frame home, instead they entered Joseph Adams’ bedroom.
Flitcraft said he believed Adams, who is in his late 70s, woke up, rose from his bed and then fell on the floor. From the floor Adams managed to grab Flitcraft’s glove. The lieutenant picked Adams up from behind and began dragging him out of the house. Smith assisted with the rescue by grabbing Adams’ legs. Flitcraft and Smith carried Adams back out of the house and handed him off to other firefighters who performed first aid on the man and gave him oxygen.
Then Flitcraft and Smith rushed back inside to fight the fire.
Adams was taken to a nearby hospital where he was treated for smoke inhalation. However, his $150,000 home was destroyed in the blaze and he currently lives with family in Foley, Ala., Flitcraft said.
Investigators determined that the blaze was accidental and probably started with an electrical short from a window air-conditioning unit in the back of the home.
In a ceremony on Wednesday morning Flitcraft and Smith were given the department’s “Life Saver” award for their actions on Oct. 7. Shortt and Joe Moody, an engineer, were also commended for their work that morning.
Flitcraft said the crew got their real award shortly after the fire when they visited Adams in the hospital and hugged his neck.
“That was the best reward,” Flitcraft said. “I told him to buy a lotto ticket. `The man upstairs likes you.”’
