Titusville firefighters battle blaze...at Lieutenant's house

Firefighters battle blaze at Titusville home of fire lieutenant

Florida Today
Tyler Vazquez
Sept. 4, 2019

Brevard county fire fighters responded to a structure fire just after midnight Wednesday in North Titusville.

Firefighters battle a Titusville blaze that broke out during Hurricane Dorian. (Photo: BCFR)

The home on the 4200 block of Pond Apple Drive belongs to a Brevard County Fire Rescue lieutenant who was notified of the fire by the PulsePoint app on his phone.

Video from the blaze showed smoke, flames and hose water being whipped around on gusts from Hurricane Dorian, which was crawling north off the coast of Brevard County overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.

He was able to make his way out of the two-story house unharmed, according to reports.

Fire investigators were still working to determine the cause after the blaze broke out or if it was directly caused by Hurricane Dorian.
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Fireworks started fire, Colorado woman rescued from house by strangers

Good Samaritans rescue woman from fireworks-sparked fire in Montbello

Denver Channel
By: Jaclyn Allen
Jul 05, 2019

DENVER – Denver Fire is investigating a fire in a Montbello home that was reportedly sparked by fireworks Wednesday night.

Dramatic dash cam and cell phone video captured the moment a bush caught fire, spreading to a car and a house on Atchison Way.

William Birkett was shooting the video after he saw the firework shoot into the bush, and pulled over to help.

"I tried my best to put it out with the water bottles that I had in my car. The neighbor was using his garden hose," said Birkett, who said the fire quickly grew out of control, and that’s when they heard a woman screaming. “Myself and two other men, we just started running towards the house. And the two men pulled her out while I held back the bushes and I ran back inside to make sure no one was inside.”
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Vietnam veterans step up after fire wiped out a "brother" on Memorial Day

SW Arkansas veteran gets help from fellow veterans after fire

ArkLaTex
By: Heather Wright
Posted: Jun 04, 2019

HEMPSTEAD COUNTY, Ark. (KTAL/KMSS) - A Vietnam Veteran whose home was destroyed by a fire on Memorial Day weekend received some assistance on Tuesday from some fellow veterans.

Vietnam Veteran Wendell Murry said he's grateful for the outpouring of support from his community and his fellow veterans. Tuesday, he was given a $2,000 check from the Texarkana chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America. "I got on one man's shirt and another man's britches, but I'm here," said Murry, smiling.

Vietnam Veterans of America #278 Chapter President Greg Beck said, "That's to get them by until the insurance company comes. You know, you need clothes, you need food, they lost everything."

Murry and his family lost their home and most of their possessions on May 24. He said the fire started in a bedroom. "Before anybody could do anything, well, that room was enveloped in fire."
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Disabled veteran has to pay property tax---because home caught on fire?

Disabled Veteran hit with high property tax bill after house fire in Theodore

NBC 15 News
by Muriel Bailey
February 1, 2019

THEODORE, Ala. (WPMI) — A disabled veteran and his wife say they were hit with a high property tax bill after their home caught fire.

The couple says they're now expected to pay the bill because their homestead exemption was canceled.

Last year we introduced you to Kay and Daniel Vanek. An electrical fire damaged their home in Theodore in October of 2017.

Home depot came by to help with repairs since Daniel is a disabled veteran with Parkinson’s disease.

The couple is back in their home now, but it came with some sticker shock.

"When that bill came it was quite a shock we were just not expecting that amount of money," Kay said.

Kay says they've received homestead exemption for more than 10 years, which means they didn't pay property taxes.

However, she says that changed and they got a 2018 tax bill for 1400 dollars.

"They said that was because we did not live here every day of that year," she said.
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Navy Veteran's home destroyed by fire

Navy Veteran and Family Temporarily Trapped When Fire Erupts in Chula Vista Home
Gardeners working in the area were able to help them jump from the second story to escape unharmed
By Christina Bravo
Oct 8, 2018

A family of four was home when a fire sparked in their Chula Vista house Monday morning, temporarily trapping them upstairs before they could escape.

The Chula Vista Fire Department was called just after 7:20 a.m. to the home on Caliente Loop, near Southwestern College and Chula Vista Hills Elementary School.

The initial call stated the family was trapped upstairs but the family was able to get out of the house before firefighters arrived, CVPD Battalion Chief Rob Nelson said.

Alexander Godat said he, his sister, mother and father, who is a Navy veteran, were in the house when the fire sparked in their home of about 20 years.
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Iraq Veteran Marine with PTSD Service Dog, home destroyed by fire

Local veteran with PTSD comes home to find house completely destroyed in fire 
First Coast News 
Author: Jeanne Blaylock 
June 11, 2018

A local combat veteran in Starke lost his entire home in a large fire. He's devastated by the loss and Jeannie Blaylock has information on how you can help.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- "I feel like I've suffered enough in my life." Local combat veteran Chris Langston is one tough guy. A weightlifter. A combat veteran who served in the U.S. Marines.

But -- through tears -- he is telling about a phone call he got a few days ago. "I got woke up to a call saying my house was on fire. When I got here, it was gone."

Langston lives in Starke in Bradford County, Florida. He got home from Iraq 14 years ago. He'd seen his "best friend in the world" attacked and killed by a sniper. "It was complete devastation," he said. "Snipers don't play around too much."

It's given him nightmares and survivor's guilt. And PTSD.

But he was getting his life on track. His PTSD was getting much more manageable. He credits K9s for Warriors for a major part of that.

Langston is a graduate of K9s for Warriors, and his service dog, Kup, is right by his side. But even Kup can't smooth over the fact that Langston finds himself homeless now.

"I think this hurts the most," he said as he walks to a charred pile of some sort of fabric. A closer look shows some small red stripes of piping and a metal pin covered in an ashen hue. read more here

Disabled Navy Vietnam veteran saved from burning house

Vietnam vet who is disabled rescued from Schenectady fire
WNYT News 13
March 28, 2018

SCHENECTADY – A Navy Veteran who served in Vietnam is being treated at the Westchester Medical Center’s Burn Unit, according to his nephew. Fire broke out inside Rick Batcher’s house at the corner of Fifth Ave. and Glendale Pl. in Schenectady around 7:00 a.m. Wednesday.

Neighbors knowing Batcher, 69, has a prosthetic leg rushed up the block in the Mont Pleasant section of the city to get him out. Clarence Cohen and his son-in-law tried to break in the door to save the man they called “Ricky.”

"He must have made it right to the door because when I kicked the door in it went on top of him,” Cohen said.

Batcher has lived at his house for 30 years. He is a Life member of VFW Post 357 in Schenectady. He was initially taken to Ellis Hospital, rerouted to Albany Medical Center and then flown to the Westchester Medical Center’s burn unit and in critical condition.
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Quadruple Amputee Will Leave You Speechless

Wheelchair-bound man cutting grass an inspiration for Weslaco and beyond
KENS
Oscar Margain
December 23, 2017

“God gave me the biggest blessing I could ever ask for,” he said. The Ayala name is still going on. You know, it doesn't stop with me.”

WESLACO, TEXAS - Mowing the lawn under 80-degree December weather would seem like a breeze. Not so fast. What may look like a simple chore for Rene Ayala is much more.

“I like to face adversity and hit it head on,” he said. “You’re not going to tell me I can’t do it.”

The 45-year-old Weslaco resident is often seen on his 10-acre property pulling, rather than pushing, a lawnmower.

Ayala said he’s never asked strangers for help. Even after losing his limbs and suffering severe burns in an apartment fire 22 years ago.
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Iraq Veteran Found Dog-tags After Fire in California

Emotional Iraq veteran finds his dog tag amid ruins of his parents' home destroyed by wildfire

ABC News

Emily Shapiro

October 11, 2017

An Iraq veteran spent this week sifting through the charred remains of his parents' California house to find one of his most precious items: the dog tags he deployed with.

While Brady Harvell's Santa Rosa home survived the deadly wildfire that tore through the area, his parents, who live nearby at the house he grew up in, lost everything.

Harvell said his parents' house had already filled with smoke by the time they woke up. They grabbed their two dogs, two cats and fled. They didn't have time for anything extra, like his baby pictures, he said.

"Everybody I grew up with ... everybody's house is gone. It's absolutely nuts," he told ABC News.

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Mailman and Tampa Police Officers Saved Disabled Vietnam Veteran

Mailman, Tampa police officers team up to save disabled veteran trapped inside burning home
Sergeant put on a gas mask and ran inside
ABC Action News
Michael Paluska
Jun 10, 2017

“Sgt. Larry Brass is the real hero,” Sierra said. “I felt hopeless. I couldn't get in there, and once my sergeant was in there a few minutes we didn't know what was going on. As soon as he pulled up to the window we grabbed him and got him out of the house.”

TAMPA, Fla. - A United States Postal Worker and four Tampa police officers are being called heroes after they worked together to save the life of a 68-year-old Vietnam veteran trapped inside his Tampa home.

Jason Moss was on his regular route when he says he smelled burning plastic. Then he saw smoke billowing out of the home at 7903 Greenwood Avenue.

“I just went in and did what anyone would do. I knew the father was there and the two dogs,” Jason Moss said. “Oh, I was scared to go in. I had to slide in through the window and when that smoke hits you you can't see or breathe.”

Moss was overcome with smoke. Another Tampa police officer also couldn’t handle the intense smoke as they frantically tried to reach Terry Sims, 68, who was trapped in the back of the home.
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Neighbors Rush to Help Disabled Veteran Escape Fire

Bed-ridden with cancer, veteran crawls to safety with girlfriend from Springdale fire
WTAE News 4 Pittsburg
Sheldon Ingram
December 30, 2016

SPRINGDALE, Pa.
A fierce and rapid fire tore through a two-story Springdale house on Butler Street, chasing a disabled military veteran and his girlfriend into the street.

Mike Elliot, 65, crawled to safety, though disabled, on oxygen and battling cancer.

Neighbors who rushed to his aid say he was wearing boxer shorts, a T-shirt and no shoes while on his knees in the frigid night air.

"It just tore my heart apart to see this right after Christmas," said Joe Kuchek, a neighbor who gathered blankets to assist Elliot.

He shared the house with his girlfriend, Janis Schweitzer, 69. Both escaped without injury, but the house is destroyed.
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Vietnam Veteran Lost Home For Christmas...and Dogs

Veteran loses home, dogs to Christmas fire
The New Mexican
By Tripp Stelnicki
December 31, 2016

In the early hours of Christmas morning, Fred Vigil lost everything he had.

Fred Vigil, 68, from Santa Fe, a Vietnam Veteran who served in 1967-68, stands over the remains of his home on Friday, December 30, 2016. Vigil’s home caught on fire on Christmas. He also lost his two dogs Paco and Loca. Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican

A fire, possibly started by a wood burning stove, consumed Vigil’s trailer parked off Rabbit Road, just after midnight Sunday. The fire might have taken Vigil, too, were it not for a miraculously timed beer run.

Vigil, 68, was showering, unaware, as the flames spread through his home. Nearby neighbors, celebrating late on the holiday evening, noticed the blaze when one stepped outside to grab beers from a parked car. They leapt into action, broke a window to enter the fiery trailer and pulled a disoriented Vigil to safety.

Meanwhile, Vigil’s old photographs, the fatigues he wore in Vietnam and his savings burned to the ground with the rest of his trailer in a matter of minutes.

“All my worldly things,” Vigil said. “It’s all gone.”

Worse, the two beloved dogs that helped Vigil cope with post-traumatic stress disorder — Paco, a boxer, and Loca, a German shepherd — did not escape. Because they didn’t bark or otherwise react to the fire, they were victims, Vigil believes, of smoke inhalation.
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Florida Veteran's Home Set on Fire

Veteran's home set on fire, vandalized, investigators find anti-Trump graffiti racial slurs on walls
Home ransacked, children's beds set on fire
ABC News
Michael Paluska
Nov 29, 2016

PLANT CITY, Fla. - The State Fire Marshall is investigating a suspicious fire at a Plant City home that started early Tuesday morning.

Naval veteran Matthew Smith said he got the call just after 3 a.m. from his neighbor that fire trucks were across the street.

“Your heart kind of just sinks in your chest,” Smith said. “Definitely blessed to have not been here. It was pretty bad.”

Smith said the family was staying with their grandparents when he got the call. His 8-year-old daughter’s bed was set on fire along with his 18-month-old son’s crib. Every single room in the remainder of the home also suffered fire damage.

“The place was ransacked. Clothes from my room, all the way to the back, just made it everywhere.

Papers, important documents thrown everywhere, just torn up. The Christmas tree set up yesterday was knocked down and had been lit on fire. Every piece of furniture was pretty much burned through.”

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House Fired Displaced Fort Hood Family of Six

Fort Hood: Fire in post housing area displaces family of six
KWTX 10 News
Jessica Thompson
April 9, 2016

FORT HOOD, Texas (KWTX) A duplex fire Saturday in a Fort Hood housing area displaced a family of six.

The fire started at around 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the carport of a duplex on Santiago Colon Drive in the Kouma Village Housing Development off of Clear Creek Road.

The flames spread to the adjacent unit of the duplex.

The fire destroyed a motorcycle, some mementos, and military gear, the resident said.
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Fire Destroyed Iraq Veteran's Home, Community Restored Hope

Fire destroys South Texas home of Iraq War veteran, opens wounds
San Antonio News Express
By Martin Kuz, Staff Writer
January 4, 2016

“It’s just humbling to know how many people love you. As tough as this experience has been, that compassion and concern makes you feel good.” Sabastian Vasquez

Photo: JERRY LARA, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

The orange flames painting the dusk sky. The acrid stench of black smoke. The sharp crack of gunfire.

Memories of three combat tours in Iraq swirled in Sabastian Vasquez’s mind as he watched his childhood home in Tivoli burn to the ground Dec. 6.

The 33-year-old Marine veteran, along with his parents, brother and sister, were uninjured in a blaze that reduced the house, which had been there for decades, to piles of ash. The family suspects that a candle his mother lit in an upstairs bedroom after a power outage ignited the fire.

But for Vasquez, who struggles with the lingering effects of post-traumatic stress order and a traumatic brain injury from his time in Iraq, the sights, smells and sounds of the night reopened psychological wounds.
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Vietnam Veteran Died Trying To Save Family

“He’s our hero” – Vietnam veteran dies trying to save his family from their burning home 
WHNT 19 News Alabama
BY LAURA CHRISTMAS
NOVEMBER 10, 2015

"He was a hero then, he was a hero trying to save us that night," Dana Hayes

ROSALIE, Ala. (WHNT) -- A Jackson County man nearly died while fighting in the Vietnam War; injured so badly medics didn't think he'd make it when they found him all those years ago. Jim Hayes' family says he was a hero then and say he's a hero now - because he died trying to save their lives. 

"He was a wonderful man," says Jim Hayes' wife Dana. Jim Hayes was sent over to Vietnam as member of the U. S. Army. "He was very proud to serve," Dana explains, "He would have even gone back if they let him."

She recalls how Jim would always thank veterans every time he saw one, even though he was one himself. He was wounded in the war, earning him a Purple Heart. "He was a hero then, he was a hero trying to save us that night," Dana says. read more here

Vietnam Veteran Died Saving Family in Arkansas Fire

Vietnam Veteran dies in house fire after saving family members 
WREG News
BY MIKE SURIANI
SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

"He was the type of guy that would stand up for you, help you out. You call him in the middle of the night and he would come help you," said Tony Green, Hulbert's brother-in-law.

EARLE, Ark. --Tragedy hit the small town of Earle, Arkansas after an early morning fire killed a Vietnam Veteran, who was also a recipient of the Purple Heart.

Friends and family of Hulbert Bonner, Junior said he was a hero to the end.

"He wanted to make sure, ensure everybody's safety. And you know he put his life on the line to make sure everybody else was safe," said Damian Bonner, son of fire victim.

Damian Bonner stood tall Friday morning, speaking proudly of his father 69-year old Hulbert Bonner, Junior.

The elder Bonner was killed when fire destroyed his home on Tulip Street in Earle, Arkansas.

The Vietnam Veteran tried to extinguish the fire but first made sure his disabled son and Bonner's brother escaped.
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Iraq Veteran Saved Kids From Burning Home

Casper Veteran Helps Kids Escape Burning House
KCWY
Tony Cedrone
07/23/2015

“There wasn’t really any time to think about what you’re going to do. There was just time to do something, so the most logical thing at that point was to just see if anybody was still inside the house. So, you just do that." -Chris Poe

Casper-- Wednesday, July 22, 2015 “There wasn’t really any time to think about what you’re going to do. There was just time to do something, so the most logical thing at that point was to just see if anybody was still inside the house. So, you just do that,” says Chris Poe, the man who took matters into his own hands when he saw the house in flames Saturday afternoon.

“It was all up the backside of the house. The flames were just loud, and of course hot.”

Poe was driving with his family just four blocks away when he saw smoke coming from the roof of the house; that’s when instincts told him to rush over there and immediately take action.

“I went up the front steps, went inside, checked upstairs to see if anybody was up there. It was pretty smokey, nobody was up there so I came downstairs,” says Poe.
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Community Steps Up For Vietnam Veteran and Patriot Guard Rider

Community Helps Sinton Veteran Who Lost Home to Fire
SINTON (Kiii News)
Posted: Jun 19, 2015

Friends and family of a Vietnam veteran in Sinton who lost his home to a fire are reaching out to help him out.

Kiii News Reporter Brian Burns went to Sinton Friday to speak with veteran and Patriot Guard Rider Tony Maldonado and came back with more details on how the community is stepping up to help.
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Community Steps Up After Police Officer Iraq Veteran Lost Home to Fire

War Veteran, Officer Loses Home to Fire 
Time Warner Cable News
By Tanja Rekhi
Friday, February 20, 2015

An outpouring of support for an Iraq-war veteran and member of the Cambridge-Greenwich Police Department, who lost everything after a fire broke out at his home Thursday night.

Time Warner Cable News reporter Tanja Rekhi has more.

JACKSON, N.Y. -- Ashes remain where a father was raising his 4-year-old son. "It probably couldn't have happened on a worse night with the winds whipping the way they were," explains Chief George Bell, of the Cambridge-Greenwich Police Department. "And it just took it right to the ground."

The cause of the fire at Lauderdale Loop in Jackson Thursday night is still under investigation. No one was home at the time, except the family's dog, who died. "There's nothing left right now except a frozen pile of embers," said Chief Bell.

It was home to an Iraq War Veteran and current Cambridge-Greenwich Police Officer, Lance Barber.
"He was working a shift over in the Village of Greenwich for me last night when the call went out so he basically has his uniform, one uniform and that's it," said Chief Bell. His fellow officers and the community, now coming together to help the veteran with things he needs to rebuild his life.
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