Johnny_Blaze_47
02-14-2007, 11:56 AM
Barbecue grill used inside house is suspected in West Side fire
Web Posted: 02/14/2007 01:51 AM CST
Brian Chasnoff
Express-News
Robert Perez was peeling wire in his backyard Tuesday afternoon when he heard the clank of a barbecue pit striking dirt across the street and saw his neighbor running from her West Side home with her hair ablaze.
The sight struck him as something from an action movie.
"But I knew it wasn't a movie," Perez said. "It was the real thing."
Perez, 60, ran across the street, whipped off his sleeveless sweatshirt and smothered the flames that had engulfed his neighbor's face, back and hair, he said. The victim, a 59-year-old woman, began crying for her mother, who remained inside the burning house in the 1000 block of Ruiz Street.
"I wanted to go in, but the smoke was thick," Perez said.
Firefighters arrived and pulled the 83-year-old woman from the house, said District Fire Chief Chris Varelas.
Both women suffered burns and smoke inhalation and were taken to University Hospital, said District Fire Chief Randy Jenkins. They were in stable condition Tuesday evening.
Fire officials believe the fire started because the women were cooking with a barbecue grill in a back room.
"You don't want to be cooking with briquettes inside a house," Varelas said. "That's a no-no."
Investigators found no smoke detectors inside the house, Jenkins said.
Jenkins stressed that smoke detectors save lives, and added it's unwise to barbecue inside a house.
"There's a fire danger," he said, "and also the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning as well."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA021407.2B.bbq.fire.162736c.html
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Blaze's Take: Puro San Antonio
Web Posted: 02/14/2007 01:51 AM CST
Brian Chasnoff
Express-News
Robert Perez was peeling wire in his backyard Tuesday afternoon when he heard the clank of a barbecue pit striking dirt across the street and saw his neighbor running from her West Side home with her hair ablaze.
The sight struck him as something from an action movie.
"But I knew it wasn't a movie," Perez said. "It was the real thing."
Perez, 60, ran across the street, whipped off his sleeveless sweatshirt and smothered the flames that had engulfed his neighbor's face, back and hair, he said. The victim, a 59-year-old woman, began crying for her mother, who remained inside the burning house in the 1000 block of Ruiz Street.
"I wanted to go in, but the smoke was thick," Perez said.
Firefighters arrived and pulled the 83-year-old woman from the house, said District Fire Chief Chris Varelas.
Both women suffered burns and smoke inhalation and were taken to University Hospital, said District Fire Chief Randy Jenkins. They were in stable condition Tuesday evening.
Fire officials believe the fire started because the women were cooking with a barbecue grill in a back room.
"You don't want to be cooking with briquettes inside a house," Varelas said. "That's a no-no."
Investigators found no smoke detectors inside the house, Jenkins said.
Jenkins stressed that smoke detectors save lives, and added it's unwise to barbecue inside a house.
"There's a fire danger," he said, "and also the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning as well."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA021407.2B.bbq.fire.162736c.html
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Blaze's Take: Puro San Antonio