Aug. 30--ANDERSON, IN-- An elderly woman and her two service dogs narrowly escaped serious injury, or worse, Tuesday afternoon when fire swept through her house in the 900 block of East 10th Street.
Sibyl Simpson, her golden retriever Obi and German shepherd Nala have Joey Landaker to thank for helping them escape from the burning two-story wood frame house.
Landaker, who lives up the street, ran down thinking the fire was at a friend's house. It wasn't, and as he neared the scene, he saw Simpson and her dogs were in peril.
He pulled out a window air conditioner and stood on it and managed to get the two dogs out.
"You could see the flames rolling into the room where she was," Landaker said.
By that time, Nathan Swango and his wife, Ashley Bagley, who live across from Simpson, had returned home from an errand.
"Before I could slam the car into park, he jumped out and helped pull the lady and both the dogs out the window," Bagley said, referring to her husband.
Bagley said Landaker didn't seem to be aware the house was fully engulfed and that flames were shooting 20 to 30 feet into the air through the roof.
"Flames were high, high up. I mean it was absolutely horrifying," Bagley said. "I thought for sure that lady was dead."
Simpson said she wasn't even aware the house was on fire until Landaker arrived.
Two Anderson firefighters managed to scramble out of the way at the last moment when part of the burning roof fell to the ground.
After that near miss, fire command ended any effort to save the building and pulled firefighters back to safer positions.
"It had to be rolling for a while before anybody knew for it to be that bad," said Fire Chief Dave Cravens, who was at the scene.
Neighbors provided Simpson with a lawn chair to sit down and water for her dogs, while firefighters fought the blaze.
Simpson and her husband bought the house in 1966 as a rental, she said. It wasn't immediately clear when she moved back into the house, however.
Cravens said three engines, a ladder truck, rescue truck, medic and battalion chief were dispatched to the fire at 3:46 p.m., and remained on the scene for several more hours.
Cravens said the fire appeared to have begun at the back of the building. There was no immediate estimate of the damage, however.
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