HARRISON TWP. — New video shows a Montgomery County Sheriff’s deputy and a battalion chief carrying a woman from a massive apartment fire in Harrison Twp.
The fire happened last week at the Meadows of Catalpa apartment complex. As News Center 7 previously reported, one woman suffered serious smoke inhalation. Video obtained by News Center 7 shows rescuers pulling that woman out of danger.
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“We’ve got to get her out. She’s got to move,” Deputy Javan Richardson said in the body camera video.
The woman can be heard saying she can’t breathe. You can hear Richardson also struggling to breathe in the thick smoke, but he keeps moving forward. He and Harrison Twp. Battalion Chief Dave Nangle continue and then find the woman.
The woman told the men that she can’t walk.
“We’re going to grab you,” Nangle told her.
The men can then be seen carrying the woman out to the parking lot of the apartment complex. Once she’s out there, the woman realizes the fire is starting to burn out of control.
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“Oh no! My apartment is right up there!” the woman said in the video.
News Center 7′s Mike Campbell spoke with Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck about the deputy and battalion chief’s heroic actions.
“Once she had fallen, she was unable to get up herself and move. Luckily, they got to her before the smoke and fire got too bad,” Streck said.
Streck said it’s a tough situation. Deputies often arrive at fires first but don’t have protective gear. While they have to be safe, they never stop looking to protect people.
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“You have to sit down and talk to them about being safe, then turn around and say, ‘By the way, you did a great job saving that individual,’” Streck said.
The woman was taken to the hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation.
Forty people were displaced from this massive fire, which investigators say likely started on a second-floor deck as someone tried to barbeque.