Three Chattanooga firefighters early Wednesday morning carried an unresponsive woman from a burning house in Lookout Valley.
At 3:08 a.m., firefighters were dispatched to a house fire at 111 Centro Ave.The 911 dispatchers told the responding firefighters that someone may be trapped inside. Upon arrival, the firefighters observed smoke and flames coming from the roof of the one-story home.
Two men who escaped the fire were outside in the front yard. They told the firefighters that a woman was trapped in a back bedroom. Senior Firefighter Joel Nix, Firefighter Engineer Matt Rorex and Firefighter Ryan Swisher quickly entered through the front door with a hand-held hoseline. Crawling on their hands and knees, the firefighters made their way through the house with zero visibility. They came upon a dog and handed it back to other firefighters to be carried out of the house.
They continued on into the back bedroom and found another dog, which was carried out as well. Seconds later, they found a woman lying unresponsive, but breathing, on the floor. They carried her out of the house and handed her off to paramedics with Hamilton County EMS. Captain David Thompson Jr., the incident commander, said the woman was then rushed to the hospital with serious smoke inhalation and possibly other injuries.
Later Wednesday morning, she was transferred to the burn unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, where she remains in critical condition.
The two men who made it out earlier were also transported to a local hospital. Captain Thompson said they may have had some smoke inhalation, but their injuries did not appear to be life-threatening. The two pet dogs did not survive.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. Chattanooga Police, Chattanooga-Hamilton County Rescue Service and EPB also provided assistance on the scene.
The latest fire comes on the heels of another house fire in Lookout Valley that claimed the life of a 72-year-old man and caused burns to a woman who was in the house.
- Photo2 by Sgt. Kyle Moses