CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. -- A wheelchair-bound woman was hospitalized Sunday afternoon after neighbors and police officers pulled her through a window of her burning West Hill residence.
Gerald Fliehr, 605 W. Grand Ave., Chippewa Falls, was barbecuing dinner for him and his sister on their back porch, according to Chippewa Falls fire Chief Tom Larson.
Fliehr, who also uses a wheelchair, had gone into the house to fetch some potatoes for the meal when he looked out the window and saw the grill had caught fire.
Fliehr then wheeled himself back onto the porch and tried to extinguish the fire.
"He said that a fireball erupted from the grill, which set the couch on fire," Larson said.
Within moments the entire porch was engulfed in flames.
Tom and Cindy Dubiel, who live next door to the siblings, were gardening when the fire started.
"We noticed the fire, ran over and heard him yelling for us to call 911, so Tom called," Cindy Dubiel said.
The call came in at 4:36 p.m. Sunday, according to Larson.
Fliehr was able to escape the house, but his sister, whose name wasn't released, was trapped inside the house.
"One officer had arrived and was directing traffic, and another was pulling up when my husband and I saw she was by the window," Cindy Dubiel said.
Because the front door of the house is not wheelchair accessible, the siblings had turned it into a storage space, blocking off the entrance. That meant the woman had to be pulled from the window, Larson said.
"When the police officer removed the storm window, smoke started pouring out," Tom Dubiel said.
He tried to coax the woman from the house, but according to the Dubiels, she initially refused help.
"She was really scared," Cindy Dubiel said. "She didn't want to go."
Together, the two officers, Tom Dubiel and another neighbor were able to hoist the woman out of the window. She was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and then taken by ambulance to St. Joseph's Hospital in Chippewa Falls.
"The fire chief said that had she'd been in there for another minute she would have passed out," Cindy Dubiel said.
Firefighters searched an upstairs apartment where three other residents lived, Larson said. They were not home at the time of the blaze.
The fire severely damaged the porch, kitchen and attic, destroyed two vehicles parked in the rear yard and caused damage to another vehicle, as well as serious smoke damage to the residence.
Larson estimated total damage at $100,000.
Copyright 2012 - The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
