News
Local firemen rescue man in a house fire
Scott Wagar
11/20/2012
In a recent fire in Bottineau, two local firemen assisted in rescuing a man in the fire who found himself inundated by smoke and not being able to get out of his home.
This past Wednesday, a fire broke out in the home Lorraine Wilcox, which caused considerable damage to her home and caused one of her two sons, John, to be trapped in the home’s basement as the house burned.
Travis Hennings and Stuart Coleman of Bottineau’s volunteer fire department rescued John.
“We knew going in the house there were possible victims inside, so we split up in teams and started searching the house,” said Hennings, who described the house as being filled with smoke. “Stuart went down the stairs first and started searching. As we went along we were yelling out that we were the fire department and asking if anyone was down there. The guy kind of answered and we headed toward a back bedroom behind the stairs and there he was in a bed.”
Hennings and Coleman assisted in getting John up and helped escort him out of the house.
John, who was overcome by smoke, was transported to St. Andrew’s Health facility and was airlifted to Trinity in Minot where he was placed in the Intensive Care Unit, sedated, and is being treated through a respirator for smoke inhalation.
As of this weekend, John was still being treated in Trinity’s ICU, but he is expected to make a full recovery.
It is uncertain how John was overcome by the smoke while in the basement, but it is believed he might have been sleeping when the fire broke out and was overwhelmed by the smoke.
For Hennings and Coleman, this was there first fire rescue where they were given the opportunity to save another human being’s life, which brought to them some unique experiences.
“It’s always an adrenalin rush when you go into a house,” Hennings said. “But, when you can do something like this it makes what you do worth it.”
“It is kind of what we signed up for you know,” Coleman said. “It is what we do for the community.”
Hennings added that the job they did in the fire only happened because of the firemen they work with in these situations.
“Any one of those guys would have done it,” Hennings said. “It just came to us through the veteran firemen who trained us in the department.”
According to Eric Nostdahl, fire chief of the Bottineau Fire Department, the fire in Wilcox’s home started in the kitchen.
“It appears that the fire started at the stove,” Nostdahl said. “There’s considerable damage to the kitchen area and the ceiling and rafters above the kitchen. There was also considerable smoke damage throughout the house.”
Nostdahl stated that he was pleased with the work Hennings and Coleman did in the fire and the successful rescue of John. “They did a great job,” Nostdahl said.