2 women briefly trapped in south Fort Worth house fire suffer injuries, officials say
Two women are dealing with injuries after they couldn’t immediately escape a house fire in south Fort Worth Thursday morning, according to the fire department and MedStar.
Firefighters who entered the single-family home around 10:30 a.m. encountered the older adults struggling to find the exit and helped them outside, fire department spokesman Mike Drivdahl said over the phone. But he said they were trapped long enough to suffer injuries, including smoke inhalation, breathing in potentially toxic gas.
One of the victims was in serious but not life-threatening condition, through Drivdahl couldn’t describe her injuries or say if she suffered burns. The other victim’s injuries were minor, he said.
MedStar treated the two women at the scene and took them to hospitals, spokesman Matt Zavadsky said.
Drivdahl, who was still standing outside the home in the 6900 block of Penhurst Drive on Thursday as he spoke with the Star-Telegram, said the fire department was unsure about the relationship between the women or how many people lived in the home. All tenants will be displaced, he said, due to the damage to the home, mostly in the back where the fire started.
Drivdahl was proud of the department, he said, for this rescue and for others over the past year.
“We have seen what I believe is a considerable increase in what we consider rescues from structure fires,” he said. “I don’t know that we have rescued as many people in my career over a 12-month span as we have over the last 12 months.”
He also wanted to point out, though he’s unsure what alerted the residents to the fire, that working smoke detectors can give people valuable seconds to escape a fire.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, Drivdahl said. The first firefighters on the scene found heavy fire and smoke from the back of the home, he said, and were able to quickly get it under control.
Firefighters and investigators were still on the scene as of 11:50 a.m. but it was pretty much wrapped up, he said.
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 12:14 PM.
