Snippets: Firefighters Recall Fire

Posted: Tuesday, March 14, 2017

BY RANDY TRAMP P&D Correspondent

CROFTON, Neb. — The Crofton Volunteer Fire Department received a call at 10:01 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26. The page said structure fire at 1410 West 2nd St. residence.

“I had just gone to bed when the pager went off. I read it and thought to myself, ‘Oh no,’” Fire Chief Dave Hansen said.

He knew who lived there.

It’s a situation faces by small-town fire departments all the time, and that familiarity can add an extra sense of urgency to each call.

In the Feb. 26 fire, response time was around four or five minutes, the house being located just two blocks straight south of the fire hall.

“The Crofton Police and around eight EMS personnel were on scene,” Hansen said.

A neighbor stated there was an elderly woman still inside.

The firemen knew they had a hard fight ahead since the fire and smoke was hot and thick. Heat from the fire blew out a large picture window, creating the sound of an explosion.

“When I saw the fire coming out from the front picture window and found out someone was still in there, the adrenaline kicked in,” Hansen said. “We had to get her out of there as soon as possible.”

“I heard she might be in the upstairs bedroom, so I sent the first team up there,” he said.

The first crew knocked down the fire in the living room and went upstairs to check the bedrooms, before they got back downstairs, the living room flared up again.

The second fire crew knocked down the blaze and continued to search. They made entry into the adjacent room. Over the radio, blared the words, “We found her. Need help.”

The first team heard the call and responded. They got her out, handing her over to the EMS personnel.

After she was removed from the house, the Crofton Ambulance transported her to the Yankton hospital. From there, Life Net flew her to a burn unit.

The fire was put out in about four or five minutes, and firefighters checked hot spots and evacuated the smoke for another hour.

The fire marshal was summoned. The heat in the house was very intense. It’s an old block house which kept the heat inside. The staircase next to the living room acted as a chimney and funneled the heat to the upstairs, which sustained moderate heat damage.

The house received moderate to extreme damage from fire, heat, and smoke.

“It was a very intense scene, knowing we had one of our residents trapped,” Hansen said. “The Volunteer Firemen had a very dangerous situation, with active fire, heat and mainly the task of finding and rescuing the victim. They handled the situation perfectly.”

The morning after the fire, Hansen received a phone call from one of the firefighters. “I just can’t get it out of my head,” the firefighter told him.

“Yes, you just keep playing it over and over. It stays with you for a while,” Hansen said.

Carol Peitz, a neighbor, saw the fire. “A lot of smoke was coming out of the house. I was surprised anyone could be bought out of there alive,” she said.

The fire marshal determined the fire was caused by improper use of smoking materials.

This ran in the Press and Dakotan Link

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