Fire, neighbor rushed to hosp wi/ severe smoke inhalation

[Coventina]

Holy cow!

I woke up around 4am local time, to shouting.

Neighbors carrying elderly woman out of her burning townhouse.
Townhouse totally engulfed. Poor woman gasping for breath.
Seemed to take forever for Fire, PD to get there.
Kept victim warm, brought lots of blankets. Kept her talking.
She's been taken to the hospital. Neighboring units all evacuated.
Media showed up, me in my jammies, came back inside my unit.
Victim's parrot "Bogart", hopefully he never woke up :-(
Good vibes needed for Hilda, 86 year old fighting for her life right now.....

[Brundle_Fly]

1. god bless hilda.

[Branjor]

2. oh no.....

Goddess bless Hilda and Bogart.

[Coventina]

3. *UPDATE*

Hilda is listed in critical condition at the county burn unit.
She was completely black, but I had assumed it was from smoke, not burns. Do they treat smoke inhalation at burn units?

No word on Bogart yet, but I don't see how he could have made it.

It's amazing how inaccurate local tv news is. I've been flipping the stations to watch the coverage and the reports are just ridiculous. Me & hubby are listed among the evacuated!! One station even has the location wrong. The reports about what happened vary widely from station to station.
Pathetic.

[Coventina]

4. **FURTHER UPDATE**

Tragedy
:cry:

Hilda is in extremely critical condition. It looks like she probably won't make it. I'm pretty shook up. I can't tell you how horrible it was, listening to her moan and gasp for breath, after she was rescued from the house. We wanted to help her, but besides keeping her warm and talking to her, we didn't know what to do for her until the paramedics came.

Bogart didn't make it. The Fire Dept guys said there's nothing left, the place is completely gutted.

[Lavender Brown]

5. How awful - I'm so sorry

She's in my thoughts. You're a very good neighbor to be there for her. I don't know what to say. :(

[skygazer]

6. Wow, what a sad story

I'm so sorry - you did all that you could, you know. :hug: Poor woman, that's one of my great fears - fire. :grouphug:

[Az_lefty]

7. So sorry....

my brother-in-law and his family died in a house fire. The family's never gotten over it. :hug:

[Coventina]

8. ***NEXT DAY UPDATE***

Hilda is in a medically induced coma with 3rd degree burns over 25% of her body.

She had some emergency surgery yesterday, but I don't know exactly what was done.

Her niece is flying in from Florida as soon as she can. She's a doctor, so hopefully she'll be able to make good decisions for her aunt and understand what is going on.

The story of Hilda's rescue is pretty dramatic. A little after 4am a guy was driving by our complex and saw the smoke and flames. He went to Hilda's door. Her security door was NOT locked! He kicked in the regular door, and was greeted by intense heat and thick smoke. He crawled four feet forward into the inferno, found Hilda and dragged her to the door. Then he started shouting for help. That was when I woke up. By the time I got outside, he and the neighbors had just carried her in a blanket to the sidewalk. That's when I ran back for more blankets.

When the fire dept got there, the first fireman, in full gear, was knocked to his knees by the intensity of the blaze upon entering the house!

It is suspected a space heater, possibly the one she used for Bogart :-( is the cause of the blaze.