In May firefighters in Muncie, Ind., faced the fire-fighting story of their lives. Tom and Pam Price were trapped inside their burning home for 35 minutes after a car in their garage caught on fire for currently unidentified reasons. The Prices were boarded up in their bedroom as the flames engulfed their home.
Firefighters doused the flaming home with 900 gallons of water, but they could not contain the fire. Finally two firefighters ran into the house and up the hallway stairs only to find the stairs charred to the point that the structure was not stable. There was no way for the firefighters to get upstairs through the house, and they thought the Prices would not make it out alive.
Firefighters call a fire that is too dangerous for them to fight a “defensive fire.” But before they gave up, the firefighters heard the 911 dispatcher say they could still hear the Prices crying out from their bedroom. That’s when the fire chief decided to send his firefighters back into the house – an unusual decision in the case of a defensive fire.
The firefighters hoisted an aerial ladder to the second floor bedroom and pulled the Prices – who were suffering from smoke inhalation – to safety. Everyone on the crew said that it was a miracle the Prices walked out of the house fire without any injuries or burns. They were treated at a local hospital and released – and now these firefighters have a story for the history books of their careers.