February 11, 2001

PRESS RELEASE

To: Newsroom

For Immediate Release

Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer

Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137

Fire Injures Highland Woman

A fire that investigators say started in the floor furnace of a home at 129 East Boulevard Street, injured one woman and caused medium damage to the residence. Fire crews were called to the home of Ruth Bishop, 88, shortly before 11:00 a.m. this morning by a home security company. The security company reported receiving an alarm from Bishop’s home and after checking with her called 911. Fire Communications Officer Billy Jordan said the security company told him they called Bishop and she said that her house was full of smoke, prompting Jordan to send a full fire department response to the home.

When fire crews arrived, smoke could be seen coming from the roof line. The first company to arrive said Bishop was exiting the residence as they pulled up. Coughing and shaken, Bishop was taken and placed into a fire department vehicle where she was attended to by emergency medical technicians until a medic unit could arrive. Meanwhile, firefighters had to cut through the home’s floors and walls to get to the origin of the fire - a floor heating unit. Once all of the fire could be exposed, it was quickly brought under control at 11:20 a.m. District Chief Jim Draughon estimates the fire and smoke damage to be medium. The most difficult part of the fire was reaching it - we had to use chain saws as well as send a crew up under the pier-beam home, says Draughon.

Bishop was treated for smoke inhalation at the scene by department paramedics and released. The cause of the fire appears to be the home’s heating unit, although no official finding has yet been release.

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