A city woman and her daughter suffered what police called “life threatening injuries” when their home caught fire Wednesday evening.
Around 6 p.m. Monday, the Elizabethton Fire Department and Elizabethton Police Department were dispatched to a fire at 916 Pine Ridge Circle, Apt. C, in the Rolling Hills community on Arney Hill.
“The call came from the occupant, who said she and her daughter were entrapped,” EPD Chief Jason Shaw said. “Dispatch stayed on the phone with her until she lost consciousness.”
Within 2 to 3 minutes of the call coming in, the Elizabethton Fire Department arrived on scene and began attempting to enter the apartment to locate the woman and child.
“They were focused on finding the victim while at the same time trying to stop the fire from spreading,” Shaw said.
When firefighters entered the second floor of the apartment they found the woman and her daughter. “Both victims were unconcscious” Shaw said, adding both were located on the second floor of the apartment.
Firefighters passed the daughter out of the second floor window to the waiting arms of a police officer who carried her down the ladder and gave her to medics with the Carter County Rescue Squad. Medics placed a breathing device on the child and carried her to a waiting ambulance. She was then transported to a local hospital.
A few minutes later, firefighters emerged from the ground floor of the apartment carrying the woman, who was placed onto a stretcher and taken to a waiting ambulance. She was also taken to a local hospital by the Rescue Squad.
“The injuries were life threatening to both the child and the adult,” Shaw said, adding he had no further information at that time as to the condition of the woman and child.
Shaw said the cause of the fire is not known at this time. He said the Elizabethton Fire Department and Elizabethton Police Department are investigating the fire and have called in assistance from the State Fire Marshal.
As firefighters, police officers and emergency medical personnel worked at the scene of the fire to rescue the woman and child, the sidewalks and yards in front of neighboring buildings were lined with people watching the events unfold. Some could be seen crying or embracing those near them. Others asked passing emergency personnel if the people rescued from the home were ok.