Courageous efforts by a neighbor and emergency responders helped saved an unconscious woman from a burning home Monday night in West Portsmouth.
According to the Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office, a neighbor reported a fire about 10:30 p.m. Monday at a single-family home at 398 Ohio 239 in West Portsmouth.
After reporting the fire, the neighbor rushed inside the home in an attempt to rescue 61-year-old Jenny Kitchen, but was pushed back by the flames, smoke and hot gasses. At that time, deputies from the Scioto County Sheriff's Office arrived, and they along with the neighbor tried to rescue Kitchen through a bedroom window on the front porch. They were only able to get her part-way out the window when a sudden burst of fire (called a flashover) erupted in the living room and drove the rescuers back out of the home.
Firefighters then arrived and were able to enter the side window of the home into the bedroom. One firefighter was extinguishing the flames while the two others worked to pass Kitchen out the window to the sheriff deputies, firefighters and neighbor waiting outside.
At this time, Kitchen was unconscious and firefighters began medical treatment. Paramedics arrived and transported her to Southern Ohio Medical Center in Portsmouth. She was treated for smoke inhalation and thermal burns and released Tuesday morning.
One sheriff's deputy was also treated for burns, and the other was treated at the scene for a laceration. The neighbor was also treated for smoke inhalation at the scene.
"If not for the courageous actions of the neighbor, the sheriff's deputies and the Washington Township firefighters, our investigators would almost certainly be investigating a fire fatality today," said State Fire Marshal Larry Flowers. "Those at the scene of last night's fire are to be commended for their quick thinking and selfless actions."
The home was heavily damaged by smoke and fire. Investigators from the State Fire Marshal's Office, Scioto County Sheriff's Office and Washington Township Fire Department have ruled the fire accidental; the result of unattended cooking.
According to the State Fire Marshal, about 60 percent of all Ohio's residential fires between Thanksgiving Day and New Year's Day are cooking-related. Cooking is the No. 1 cause of residential fires in Ohio, and was the third leading cause of fire-related fatalities in 2011 when a cause could be determined.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
