Pennsylvania Firefighters Save Woman Trapped in Brush Fire

MT. PLEASANT, Pa. --

Burned grass, leaves, and yard furniture is all that's left of a brush fire that got out of control in Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland County. It happened Wednesday evening in back of a house on Route 981. Marguerite Fire Chief Scot Graham and Dry Ridge firefighter Rich Ponko were on their way to teach a safety class when they spotted the fire in the backyard.

Rich Ponko said, "Right place, right time. How can you expect two paramedics and firefighters with their gear to be driving by the house at that time."

Good thing they were. A woman was trapped by the blaze and her clothing was on fire, Graham said.

"She had fallen between the kennel and stone wall. So we had to drag her out and basically stop drop and roll and try to pat her out," Graham said.

Ponko and Graham have worked together as paramedics since 1980. They were thankful to have been together that day. Working as a team Graham attended to the burn victim while Ponko worked to keep the flames away from them.

Graham said, "All the time the fire was coming towards us, up over the hill, towards the house. Rich did a fantastic job putting out the fire as best he could and keeping it away from us because we were trapped in a corner."

Rich said, "He yelled to me, 'protect my back.' I grabbed a shovel and all I could do was anything around, grabbed the dirt, anything I could to keep the fire away from him."

The unidentified female victim was taken to a Pittsburgh hospital with severe burns to her lower body.

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