Neighbor Rescues Delaware Woman, Then Home
The blaze began at 4:48 p.m. Sunday in the utility room of a two-story house at Lighthouse and Williamsville roads.
As Daniel Magee - a veteran firefighter and a state fire prevention commissioner - was getting ready to go out to dinner with his family, his son came back to the house and reported a fire coming from Mary Truitt's home at the intersection. Magee called 911 and ran to the house, where a crowd had gathered outside.
Magee got on his knees and crawled into the house, where the smoke was so thick that he could not see. He began to yell for Truitt. She answered, but Magee said he still could not see her.
"When I reached out to her, I couldn't see her" Magee said. He finally found her arm and helped drag her out. "I got lucky."
The fire, which caused $75,000 in damage and destroyed the first floor of the house, was caused by an electrical appliance that ignited combustibles, Chief Deputy State Fire Marshal Randall Lee said. Lee said the Roxana, Selbyville, Bethany Beach and Bishopville, Md., fire companies contained the blaze.
After bringing Truitt to safety, Magee - a firefighter with Roxana - joined in the firefighting efforts. He said he was able to rescue Truitt by remembering fire safety training he took nearly 30 years ago.
"It's amazing how it all came back to me," he said.
Truitt was taken to Atlantic General Hospital in Berlin, Md., and then transferred to Bayview Burn Center in Baltimore, where she was listed in serious condition with smoke inhalation.
Lee said that Truitt could have died if Magee had not entered the house to rescue her. Magee said he likely would not have succeeded if Truitt had been unconscious.
"I don't know I would have found her," he said. "The smoke was getting so thick, I was amazed she was still conscious."