Fort Worth crews spotted a house fire while returning from another call and rescued an occupant who suffered critical injuries on Dec. 27.
The firefighters discovered the fire in 900 block of E. Maddox Ave. around 10:30 a.m. as they were returning from an automatic alarm at John Peter Smith Hospital.
Acting Lt. Matt Schneider reported that they were several blocks away when they saw smoke and went to investigate.
When they located the source of the smoke, Lt. Schneider requested a one-alarm assignment to get additional units to assist. Another resident of the house, an adult male, was standing outside and told the firefighters that his grandmother was still in the house.
The firefighters took an attack line into the house and conducted search and rescue for the reported victim.
Lt. Schneider found the victim in an upstairs bedroom and was assisted by other firefighters from Stationw 5 and 8 in removing her from the house.
Emergency medical care, including CPR, was initiated by the fire crews and MedStar ambulance was requested to respond to the incident. MedStar arrived and transported the victim to a local hospital. The victim was later transferred to Parkland Regional Burn Center in Dallas.
Fire investigators determined that the fire started in a second upstairs bedroom. Investigators concluded that the fire started when combustibles too close to a space heater were ignited and spread to other contents in the room.
