Woman was trapped in burning house after going back in to look for cats

By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news

It had been a quiet night for Ashland Fire & Rescue when a call came in for a house fire on B Street. 

Firefighter Ty Haggard said as he and now-retired Capt. Todd Beck put on their gear and climbed into their engine the night of April 3, 2023, alarming information came over the dispatch radio. A person was trapped inside the burning house. 

Sitting at AF&R Station No. 1 for an interview on Monday, Haggard and Battalion Chief Todd Stubbs agreed a victim trapped in a fire was unusual. Each could look back over a decade or more in the profession and remember no similar calls. 

Even fire fatalities are unusual, Stubbs said. Most of the time, firefighters respond to investigate smoke or alarms, defend a structure that could be saved, or keep a fire from spreading when a structure is too far gone. People usually get themselves out by the time firefighters arrive. While they continually train to rescue victims, they rarely need to do it, he said. 

“It’s definitely the highest-risk thing that can make a difference,” Stubbs said. 

That night, firefighters made a difference with a quick synchronized response that saved the life of the trapped 72-year-old female. Within nine minutes and 33 seconds of being dispatched, Haggard and his fellow firefighters had the victim pulled from the building and safely inside an ambulance, said AF&R Chief Ralph Sartain at a Tuesday, Feb. 20, City Council meeting while accepting life-saving awards for the firefighters who responded to the call. 

As more information about the call came in from dispatch that night, Battalion Chief Stubbs upgraded the fire to two alarms, bringing in more resources and Mercy Flights for medical aid. But, he said, Haggard and Beck were first on scene, coming from Station No. 1 downtown while he came from Station No. 2 on Ashland Street. 

When they arrived at 8:38 p.m., they could hear the victim yelling for help, Haggard said. Her adult son was standing outside and told firefighters his mother had gone back in for her cats, which she believed were trapped inside, he said. 

Active flames were no longer present, Haggard said, but the building was still scalding hot and full of his smoke. His captain had instructed him to put on his mask as they drove over in the engine to be ready to go inside. When he heard the victim, Haggard said his captain was doing a “360” of the residence — looking for threats to their safety before they went in.

Firefighters have to look for where a burned roof may be ready to collapse, or a basement where fire could be burning from below and destabilizing the floor, Stubbs said. 

There is a way things should be done, there are procedures that are drilled and practiced, Haggard said. But on that April evening, he turned to his captain and told him he was going in alone before Beck had finished putting on his mask. Haggard was bending the “two in, two out,” rule for their own safety. 

But both also knew smoke inhalation is one of the most lethal parts of being trapped in a burning building and the window for rescue was limited. 

“He didn’t grab me by my shirt to stop me,” Haggard said. 

He went into the structure and found “almost zero” visibility, he said. Feeling around the walls, he stayed low to avoid the heat. 

Looking at photos taken after the fire was over, Stubbs guessed from the blackened walls that the temperature near the ceiling was probably 1500 degrees when Haggard went in. 

As he groped along one wall and then another Haggard came to the bed and reached out for the mattress. When he felt only springs, he said he knew the fire had burned hot and the air in the space would be toxic for human health. He found the victim hiding in the bathroom. He tried to ask her if she could walk.

“She was just kind of staring at me. … I don’t know what kind of altered perception or state of mind she was in, she was just kind of there. I told her I was going to carry her out and she didn’t really say anything,” he said. 

He needed to keep them both low to avoid the heat and smoke but debris on the ground made dragging her impossible, he said. He put his arms under her arms and around her chest, doing his best to pull her out without holding either of them up too high or dragging her across a field of debris. 

Stubbs was proud to say as Haggard emerged, firefighters were ready with a backboard to transport the victim to the ambulance, which was parked carefully close that night. 

Firefighters Matt Steward, Matt Brown and probationary firefighter Zac Hansen transported the victim to the hospital, where she was treated for burns on her arms and put on a ventilator for smoke inhalation, according to an email sent by Sartain that night to the mayor, City Council and city manager. 

Sartain highlighted that the call came in on a night when the department was at minimum staffing, but luckily all units were at the stations. Jackson County Fire District No. 5 also sent resources and responded to the incident. 

Haggard said he had some “follow up” a month or two after the call and learned the victim had not succumbed to her injuries and was recovering with continued medical care. Her cats are believed to have escaped the fire. When asked, Stubbs said if the cats had been trapped and killed, firefighters would have found remains. 

“Cats usually do OK,” he said. 

Rescuing pets is part of the job, he said. Over the years he’s seen cats, dogs, fish, and recently a bird didn’t make it in a fire in Talent. Haggard said he had heard of a call that involved an iguana. But saving a person is both rarely needed and of the highest importance, Stubbs said. 

Stubbs and Haggard resisted taking pride in their own personal parts in the incident, instead emphasizing that any firefighter at AF&R could have arrived on scene and would have met the situation just as well. As it was, the rescue effort was successful as much due to those carrying the backboard and the victim as those laying hose and supplying water. 

When asked about their favorite part of the job, both agreed the brotherhood and camaraderie between firefighters ranked highest. In working 48-hour shifts and training roughly 240 hours per year, firefighters “spend a third of our lives,” together, Haggard said. The mutual respect and trust built between them allows the kind of synchronized response AF&R was able to achieve that night. 

At the award presentation Tuesday, all those who responded were named by Sartain: Firefighters Captain Todd Beck (retired), Engineer Daniel Caples, Firefighter Ty Haggard and recruit probationary Firefighter Zach Hansen, as well as Firefighters Matt Brown and Matt Stewart, who responded as medics, and Capt. David Roselip and Engineer Mike Mekkers, who also responded on Engine 1. Fire and Life Safety Specialist Sydney Jenkins were part of the support 1 team, while command staff Chris Chambers, Forestry Officer and Public Information Officer; Deputy Chief Marshall Rasor; and Sartain were also named as part of the department’s response. 

Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected].