Kansas Couple Disputes Neighbor's Fire Rescue Claim

April 12, 2006
Woman says neighbor lied about saving her.

A couple is questioning a neighbor's claim that she helped rescue them from their burning home Monday night.

The fire at Orchard and Hallock streets was reported at about 9:30 p.m.

Tricia Edwards told KMBC that she was with family nearby, smelled smoke and ran to the house, where flames had already engulfed the front.

"I heard a woman cry. So I ran to the back and pulled her out and pulled her husband out. Then the whole back of the house was in flames with fire," Edwards said.

But over the phone, Sarah Bailey, the woman who lived in the house, told KMBC's Marcus Moore a different story.

"If she said she went in and rescued us, yeah, I guess that's a lie because David's the one who pulled us out of the house," Bailey said.

Bailey said that the smoke alarm woke her up and she went into the living room and saw flames. That is when she woke up her husband, David Rodgers, who told her to call 911.

"I went back in to get my cell phone and when I came back, he was hollering at me and he grabbed my hand, pulled me through the kitchen and out the back door. There was nobody else there," Bailey said.

The couple escaped, but their three cats did not.

"To lose a house, have my husband in the hospital and lose our three pets, it's not been a good day. I think that's what gets me so upset when somebody says that they rescued us and saved our lives," Bailey said.

Moore said that he went back to the neighborhood Tuesday afternoon to find Edwards to see if there was some kind of misunderstanding, but he was not able to locate her.

Firefighters have not released the cause of the fire.

Copyright 2006 by TheKansasCityChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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