Calif. Woman Nearly Dies Getting Kids' Shoes From Fire

Jan. 08--A mother trapped by fire in her two-story Bennett Valley home climbed out a window and escaped to safety over the weekend after she returned to the burning home to get shoes for her children, fire officials said.

Christa Manning was asleep when fire in a chimney knocked out power in a portion of the home, said Battalion Chief Adam Schipper with the Gold Ridge Fire Protection District.

The sound of crackling followed the power outage and Manning, her husband Matthew Manning and their three sons rushed out of the Peracca Road home, Schipper said.

They saw smoke pouring from the chimney and called 911 at 12:07 a.m. Saturday.

As they waited for fire crews to arrive, Manning ran back into the home and was upstairs when the fire broke through the chimney and into the bedroom, he said.

"It cut off her exit with smoke and fire," Schipper said.

Manning ran down another hallway and climbed out a window, jumped onto a first-story roof and called for her husband, he said.

"She lowered herself down the gutter into his arms," Schipper said.

Fire had engulfed much of the room when fire crews arrived, Schipper said. Led by Bennett Valley Fire Department, firefighters with Gold Ridge, Santa Rosa, Rancho Adobe, Petaluma, Glenn Ellen and Rincon Valley helped battle the two-alarm blaze. They doused the fire within about 25 minutes, he said.

The home sustained between $150,000 and $200,000 in damage to the master bedroom, a closet and bathroom, Schipper said. Water damaged a portion of the home as well.

"We'd certainly discourage people from reentering the structure once they realize it's on fire," Schipper said. "But she did a pretty good job getting herself out, it was pretty impressive."

The Red Cross provided the family with several nights at a hotel and funds for clothes, shoes, medication and other necessities, spokeswoman Ellen Maremont Silver said. The nonprofit also provided the family with food for their four dogs and a bearded dragon, which buried its head in the sand and survived the fire, she said.

Reached by phone Sunday, Matthew Manning said his family wasn't ready to talk about the fire.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or [email protected].