PIQUA — Firefighters trying to stop roaring flames were forced to make a “mayday” call when they lost sight of each other.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 5, firefighters were called to the fire in the 600 block of Gordon Street around 11 a.m.
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There was so much damage on the first and second floors firefighters shut down the power.
The two adults that lived here made it out before crews pulled in but the danger was obvious inside and outside the home.
“There’s just this big cloud of smoke here, could hear the glass breaking and the flames shot out toward the house,” Aidyn Sarson said.
Sarson’s home was about 10 feet from the house that was burning.
She said she was relieved when she ran outside and saw her neighbors had gotten out.
“I was just like ‘My God’ I thought I was dreaming, I thought I was having a nightmare,” Sarson said.
She said Piqua fire crews headed right into the home to see what the cause of the fire was.
They had to find a way to get to the second floor where most of the heat and flames burned.
“Crews had a lot of trouble getting in the stairwell, there was plywood over the stairwell,” Capt. Kris Black with the Piqua Fire Department said.
Black said the stairwell was very narrow with heavy smoke and flames closing in two firefighters lost sight of each other leading to a “mayday” call.
“Felt fire burning his neck and he looked behind him and he had fire behind him, tried to notify the guy at the top and could not hear him,” Black explained.
Black said those firefighters stayed calm and managed to re-establish contact and avoid injury.
A good samaritan is the reason no one got hurt here.
“Our neighbor told us, she said some guy walked up to the door, knocked on it and said ‘your house is on fire, I’ve called the fire department’ and then just left,” Sarson said.
The Red Cross has been called to help the people living in the home who were displaced.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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