Firefighters hailed as heroes after saving family
Published: January 26, 2007
Members of the Peabody Fire Department rescue a family of five from a burning building on Tuesday night.
Authorities says the lower levels of the nine-unit apartment complex did not hear the fire alarms when the blaze ignited around 10:30 p.m. at 5 Park St.
“They were sound asleep,” said Lt. John Manning, of the Peabody Police Department. “The smoke detectors were going off. People [were] yelling.”
It wasn’t until a neighbor broke Wander Vonheld’s apartment window that he woke up and realized his family was in danger.
As a result, firefighters came to the rescue of the parents, their twin seven-year-old girls and five-year-old son in a first floor apartment.
“We knocked the door in,” said Lt. Manning.
“The house was getting fired in the top, and after, everybody was running,” Debra Vonheld (pictured), 7, said.
Firefighters, along with crews from Salem and Lynn, responded to the blaze that engulfed the wooden structure from the 1880s. They believe the fire may have started in the ceiling at the top of the complex.
No injuries were reported, but the blaze displaced between 25 to 50 residents. The Red Cross was notified of their condition.
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