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At approximately 10:20 pm Friday evening, PF&R crews responded to a reported house fire in the 14100 block of E. Burnside Street, with a report of someone trapped in a bedroom of the house. Crews arrived to find heavy fire showing from windows on both sides of a one-story house and smoke issuing from the eaves.
Truck 7 arrived on scene first and performed an immediate search for the reported victim. Because this was a potential rescue situation, the ladder truck crew went inside this heavily fire-involved house before a hose line was stretched into the house by the first arriving engine crew. After searching the target bedroom and the entire structure, they found no victim. One of the Truck 7 firefighters sustained mild to moderate burns on his head, knuckle, and left shoulder as a result of searching the structure for several minutes in high-heat conditions without the benefit of a hose line to cool the atmosphere within the structure. This firefighter was brought to a hospital by a battalion chief for evaluation of his burns.
Shortly after Truck 7’s entry into the house, engine companies began fire suppression efforts with multiple hose lines and Truck 2’s crew performed vertical ventilation, cutting a ventilation hole in the roof with a saw to remove smoke and superheated gasses from the structure. Ten minutes after Truck 7’s arrival, most of the fire was knocked down. At least three pets were rescued from the house and resuscitation efforts were begun on them, however the condition of these pets is unknown at this time.
During fire suppression efforts, crews learned that reports of a victim in a bedroom of the house were accurate, but that a passer-by had pulled this person out of the bedroom window to safety prior to the PF&R crews’ arrival. This good samaritan left the scene shortly after performing this potentially life-saving action without giving his name. The individual who was in the bedroom was transported by ambulance to a hospital for evaluation of non life-threatening injuries.
There were no other injuries and the cause is under investigation.