House fires in the City of Greenville this month have been many, with some resulting in triumph, and one, tragedy.
“The last several weeks have been challenging for the men and women of the Greenville Fire Department. Several weeks ago, 3-year-old Jaiden Bennett lost his life in a structure fire that left grief after doing all that was possible to rescue him,” Fire Chief Ruben Brown said in a statement Wednesday. “Then a week from that exact day, Relief Lieutenant Dusty Harbison, Lieutenant Buggs, Captain Ivory Walker and Assistant Chief Renover White rescued, performed CPR and transported a 2-year-old boy from a structure fire on South Percy to Delta Health -The Medical Center.”
On Tuesday morning, a man barely escaped his Clay Street home with his life after what was determined as an unintended, self-inflicted fire broke out.
The following morning, Wednesday, a woman was rescued from her South 8th Street home by the fire department’s training chief, who was off-duty at the time of the incident.
“A female victim awoke to find fire inside her home and was trapped. She fled to the bedroom and called 911,” Brown stated. “That call came in after 6 a.m.”
The fire dispatcher announced the address of her home and advised she was trapped with burglary bars on all windows.
According to Brown, Training Chief Lonnie Smith, was blocks away before the start of his shift at his personal business Dynamic Technology and heard the call on his radio and dashed to the location just before fire units arrived.
“Generally, he doesn’t come in until 8 in the morning, but he was at his business just doing some repairs before his work day started,” Brown shared, noting that Smith wasn’t even required to have his radio on until 8 a.m. “Usually when you’re off duty, you don’t necessarily walk around with your radio, but he had his radio on and then he heard the call come in and realized it was a block or so from his location.”
He also pointed out that with Smith being the training chief, he’s not “front line and fire suppression.”
“His daily job is to train firefighters and do public fire prevention, so he’s not an on-duty firefighter on the fire truck anymore and so after hearing the call, he got in his vehicle and he dashed over to that location,” Brown said.
Once Smith, who was completely without firefighter gear and the requisite tools, arrived at the scene, he went through the standard steps and completed a 360 degree walk around of the structure and discovered heavy smoke and flames.
Noticing a hand out of the window and hearing a female’s voice yell for help, Smith proceeded in that direction and began to bend and pull the bars that were preventing the woman’s escape.
“They didn’t initially come off so he just kept pulling and by the grace of God, they just came off and when they came off, he was just surprised that they came off,” Brown said, recalling distinctly from Smith’s report, “she reached out and said, “Get me, baby!””
Smith did just that and just in the nick of time as fire and smoke was right behind her.
Brown’s report noted that she encountered flames down the hallway and in that case, her exit was completely blocked by fire, causing her to retreat to the bedroom and stick her arms and head out of the bars to get air.
Fire units began to arrive and as it was raining significantly at the time of her rescue, Smith placed her in a firetruck until the ambulance arrived and transported her to the Delta Health System-The Medical Center, from which she was later released in good health.
“Her Spirit was pleasant and she was just thankful and grateful that she was alive. It was just a joy to communicate with her,” Brown said.
The department’s initial investigation has led to the belief the cause of the fire, which resulted in major fire damage throughout the residence, may have been an electrical surge due to the severe storms the night before.
It took about 25 minutes to bring the fire under control, Brown added.
Tanya Crout, the rescued victim, affectionately called her rescuer “Hero Smith.”
She recalls being surprised at how the bars of the window were bolted to an extent greater than what she thought.
“I’m thinking that I can just push the bars out and they just swing out the way they were on the air conditioner that I pushed out, but I did that and they wouldn’t come off and all I could say was “Lord Jesus,” Crout said. “The smoke was just coming so fast, I don’t even remember turning around to see if the fire had come in there yet.”
Once she saw Smith’s truck arrive, her attitude shifted.
“I don’t know where he got the strength from, but in a matter of seconds, that man snatched those bars off and snatched me out of the window and I said, “Thank you, Jesus,”” Crout said cheerfully. “The Lord sent my angel, Lonnie Smith.”
And, although she lost much inside of the structure, the most important thing to Crout is that she didn’t lose her life.
The grandmother of 19, soon to be 20, is assured that God’s plan was for her to continue living the life she was blessed with and watch her grandchildren grow up.
Even the neighborhood kids, who know Crout as somewhat of the “candy lady” and one whose home is always welcoming of them, have a great affection for her which she highlighted.
“I’m thankful for the whole Greenville Fire Department, but Lonnie was there,” she added. “That’s my hero.”
Regarding Tuesday’s fire, Brown said the department responded to a call around 8 a.m. regarding a house fire on Clay Street.
A father and son were the actual occupants of the home. However, the son, who has a mental health condition, was the only occupant at the time of the fire as his father had left for the morning.
The son had set some articles of clothing on fire in the living room area of the structure, not understanding that was where the front door was located.
The fire spread so quickly that it cut off his exit to the front door and caused him to retreat to a rear bedroom where he was able to escape through a window.
“It would be considered major fire damage throughout the house,” Brown said of the blaze. “It took about 12 minutes to bring the fire under control.”
The March 8 house fire on South Percy Street involving the rescue of a 2-year-old is still under investigation.
“There were a total of three children in the single family structure. The 14-year-old and the 6-year-old got out and the 2-year-old was left, so the firefighters rescued the 2-year-old in that house fire,” Brown said, noting the two children escaped through a rear window. “Fire units arrived on scene and with heavy flames in front, made entry through the rear of the home and did a search and found the child in one of the bedrooms in the rear.”
The 2-year-old suffered fire and smoke inhalation and when brought outside of the structure, firefighters noticed he wasn’t breathing.
He was later transported to Jackson, where he was treated for roughly one week, primarily for the smoke inhalation and minor burns. He was released Wednesday.
“I first thank God for His grace and mercy for sparing the lives of the rescued. I thank God for this noble profession that I love (firefighter). But I sincerely thank God for Greenville’s bravest firefighters. Job well done!” Brown’s statement concluded.