Quick neighbors save man from fire, family in need

Published 6:45 pm Wednesday, March 20, 2019

When fire broke out in the utility room of Ronnie Johnson’s mobile home in southern Limestone County Tuesday evening, he couldn’t get out on his own.

His granddaughter and grandson had escaped to the front yard of “paw-paw’s” mobile home on Brittney Lane. But, Ronnie, who is wheelchair bound, went to the back door of the home to try to figure a way out.

As smoke began to fill the home, a quick-acting neighbor, Jamie Hurt, and her two sons, sprang into action. She and her sons freed Johnson from the wheelchair and carried him outside to safety.

“The house was fully involved when we got there,” said Tanner Fire Chief Danny Gatlin. “They hesitated before they called (9-1-1). I think they were trying to get at it (fight the fire).”

Firefighters from Tanner, Clements and Owens VFDs tried their best to extinguish the aggressive fire. Making matters worse, however, was a building attached to the home that contained a weed-eater and other gasoline-filled tools and paints that simply fueled the flames, Gatlin said.

Emergency twice

Before the fire broke out, Johnson’s ex-wife, Kim Johnson, had stopped by the home to take their daughter to the hospital. She had fallen off the porch and broken two bones in her right foot and sprained the other. While Kim and her daughter were gone, Kim received a call from Ronnie saying there was a fire and she should telephone 9-1-1. She called 9-1-1 and also called a neighbor whose husband is a firefighter.

“Then I took off home as fast as I could,” Kim said. “Before I got to (U.S.) 72, I could see it. The sky was so black and gray, I could tell it was already in the trailer. Ronnie told me the kids were outside in the yard, but I didn’t know if anyone had gotten him out.”

If not for the neighbor and her sons, Ronnie might not have made it out in time.

“She went in the house when it was on fire and pulled him out,” Kim said. “She saved his life. She went in the front, and he was at the back (door). He was sitting there trying to figure how to get out and how to call 9-1-1.”

“The house was already filled with smoke, and she and her sons got him out of the chair and her two sons carried him out. She was a guardian angel.”

Once outside, the fire department medics checked Ronnie’s lungs and blood pressure, Kim said. Ronnie told them he was good. The house did not fare so well.

“In 15 minutes it was gone,” Kim said.

Aftermath

With everything destroyed but the clothes on their backs, the family — Ronnie, his daughter, 13-year-old twin granddaughters and 9-year-old grandson — are in great need. The Limestone County chapter of the American Red Cross gave the family hotel passes and a card to purchase food and other items they need, Kim said. Her brother put the family up in a hotel room the first night and planned to do so again Wednesday night until the family can use its Red Cross assistance.

Donations

The family needs furniture, housewares and clothing, and the daughter has a storage facility where they could store items until they get a new place to stay.

The twins wear girls sizes 12 to 14.

“They’re small,” Kim said.

The boy wears boys medium sizes, she said.

“They need everything,” Kim told The News Courier Wednesday. “They will accept food, anything. They need to try to get back on their feet.”

To donate, call Kim Johnson at 256-497-2127.