August 23, 2004

PRESS RELEASE

To: Newsroom

For Immediate Release

Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Asst. to the Fire Chief

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

Firefighters Rescue Elderly Woman from Morning House Fire

Shreveport firefighters rescued a elderly woman from a roaring house fire this morning in the 1100 block of East Washington . . .

The fire department received the call reporting the fire at 6:52 a.m. When the first crews arrived the home it was billowing black smoke as neighbors screamed someone was inside the residence. Minutes later, firefighters Jimmy Hill and Chad Burden from the department’s Rescue 1, located 91 year old Alice Lafferty, unconscious and barely breathing in a back bedroom. The crew fought through heavy smoke to reach and pull the woman to safety as other companies from Engine 11 and Engine 5 fought to keep the blaze off of the rescue team and confined to the kitchen and hallway of the home.

With her mouth and nose covered in soot, Lafferty, who normally uses a walker to ambulate, was rushed to an awaiting fire department medic unit where paramedics assisted her breathing with supplemental oxygen and started an IV. She was taken to Willis Knighton Medical, because of their hyperbaric capabilities, and was talking upon arrival at that facility.

The fire was officially listed as being under control at 7:15 a.m. Fire investigators preliminary report shown the fire originating from an electrical outlet behind a microwave and stove in the kitchen of the residence. Damage estimates are listed between $15-20,000. It has been ruled accidental by investigators. ###