Woman, House Saved From Fire By Four Citizens
Published: September 6, 2003
Employees of a neighboring business and a pair of passersby apparently saved a Greeneville woman from serious injury when they rushed to her aid Thursday morning after a clothes dryer caught fire at her residence.
Employees of nearby Azimuth Engineering, Inc., were credited with helping Mary Rhodes from her smoke-filled home at 1002 Carson St. shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday. Next, John Shelton and Johnny Hensley, who had been passing by in their truck on a nearby street when they spotted the smoke, sped to the residence, ran inside, and carried the blazing dryer outdoors, according to Greeneville Firefighter Alan Shipley.
“I don’t know what I would have done without them,” said Rhodes, referring to the men who came to her aid.
Noticed Smoke
Rhodes, a widow who lived in Ohio for 40 years and has resided in Greeneville since 1989, said she had been drying towels in the electric clothes dryer that she had used for only a month when she noticed a lot of smoke outside her house about 8 a.m. Thursday.
The smoke she saw apparently had been coming from the clothes dryer’s vent at the rear of her house, witnesses said later.
“When I came into the dining area, I saw a lot of smoke outside,” she said. “Then I went to the dryer and opened it,” she continued, adding, “Maybe I shouldn’t have done that.”
When she opened the dryer’s door, Mrs. Rhodes said, she discovered that its contents were on fire. Smoke then rapidly filled the yellow frame house at the corner of Carson and Monroe streets.
Led To Safety
Bill Onkst, a partner in the nearby Azmiuth Engineering, Inc., firm at 115 Monroe St., which is just across Monroe street from Rhodes’ residence, said that Daniel Coffey, an Azimuth engineer, noticed smoke coming from the dryer vent at the rear of Rhodes’ residence and called it to the attention of other employees of the business.
As he and Coffey watched, Onkst said, Mrs. Rhodes opened the side door of her residence and a dense cloud of smoke poured from the interior of the house. While Coffey called 911 to report the fire, Onkst went to the side door of the residence and called to Mrs. Rhodes, who had gone back into the smoke-filled house.
“I was having a problem getting through the house because of the smoke,” Rhodes said later, noting that a man, later identified as Onkst, led her out of the house to safety.
“They (Greeneville firefighters) said I needed some oxygen,” she said. “They gave me some oxygen and said I needed to go to the hospital, but I said, ‘I’m okay, I’m tough.’”
Onkst said during a Thursday afternoon interview that he had been unable to see Rhodes inside her house because of the thick smoke.
“I called to her, and she answered me and came to the door,” he said, noting that he led her away from the house as Shelton and Hensley rushed into the house and removed the burning dryer.
On The Way To A Job
Luckily, the two men said later, the dryer was located just inside the door. Shelton said he and Hensley, both of John Shelton Builders and Roofing, were en route to pick up shutters for a construction project on Thursday morning and were driving along West Main Street when Hensley happened to see smoke pouring from Rhodes’ residence on Carson Street, which parallels West Main.
Shelton said he was driving a pickup truck towing a 30-foot construction trailer and had to go to the next cross-street before he could turn and drive back to the residence where Hensley had seen smoke.
When Shelton and Hensley reached the Rhodes residence, Hensley said, they found Mrs. Rhodes gasping for breath at the side door of her residence, through which smoke was pouring.
While Rhodes was led from the smoke-filled house by Onkst, Hensley said, he and Shelton entered. “I kicked the dryer’s door shut and told John (Shelton) to jerk it (the dryer) loose,” Hensley said.
The two men had to bend low to avoid the heavy, acrid smoke that filled the house as they carried the burning dryer out the side door, down the steps and onto the driveway.
‘Sure Was Hot’
“It wasn’t heavy,” Shelton said. “But it sure was hot.” Asked how he and Hensley managed to handle the hot appliance, Shelton said, “I don’t know — we just did. I didn’t really think about it until we got outside.”
In retrospect, Shelton said, he didn’t know why he and Hensley didn’t simply toss the smoke-belching dryer from the steps, rather than carrying it down them. “We were choking (from the smoke),” he said.
Shelton and Hensley said the dryer’s vent hose apparently had become clogged with lint. They said the hose appeared to have been too long and had developed a “kink” that prevented hot air and lint from being vented to the outside of the house.
Capt. Steve Louderback, of the Greeneville Fire Department, said during a separate Thursday afternoon interview that he believed that if Shelton and Hensley had not acted as they did, “it (the fire) could have developed into something big.”
Louderback said firefighters used a small amount of water to extinguish the smoldering towels inside the dryer. Firefighters also removed smoke from Rhodes’ house using large fans, witnesses said.
On Thursday afternoon, Rhodes said the odor of smoke had begun to dissipate from her residence. “I’ve left all the windows open,” she said.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: