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Neighbors help rescue Warren fire victims
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Neighbors, a police officer and firefighters rescued an elderly Beechcrest Street Northwest woman from her home Wednesday morning after it caught fire.
Jeanne Brugler and her husband, Richard, were both taken to ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital, then transferred to the burn center at Akron Children’s Hospital in Akron for further treatment of smoke inhalation.
The burn center confirmed they are at Akron Children’s but could not release their condition.
Jay and Shelley Wonders, who live next door to the Bruglers’ 1359 Beechcrest home, noticed smoke about 11:15 a.m. Jay investigated while Shelley called 911.
Jay Wonders found Richard on a stoop in the back of the house after he had escaped, but Richard advised him Jeanne was still inside her first-floor bedroom
Wonders tried to go in after her. “I got 2 to 3 feet inside and couldn’t see anything. It was all smoke, so I went back out,” he told a reporter.
Wonders went to the side of the house and used a broom to break out Jeanne’s bedroom windows, but the smoke also was too thick there for him to get inside.
“I called to Jeanne. I could hear her in the bed, but I couldn’t get to her,” he said.
Warren Patrolman Brian Crites arrived next, but he couldn’t get inside and eventually directed Warren firefighters to Jeanne’s bedroom.
Firefighters removed Jeanne Brugler, who was still conscious, and ambulance personnel took both Bruglers to the hospital, Fire Chief Ken Nussle said.
The first-floor rec room appears to be where the fire started, but the cause hasn’t been determined, Nussle said.
The home experienced fire damage throughout the first floor and smoke damage on the top floor.
A damage estimate was not available.
Shelley Wonders, a teacher at the McGuffey K-8 School in Warren, the first person to notice the smoke blowing past the front of her house, said it was fortunate school was canceled Wednesday because of cold weather.
Otherwise, she would not have been there to spot the fire.
Nussle said Jay and Shelley Wonders may have saved Jeanne Brugler’s life because they helped direct firefighters to the specific location where Jeanne Brugler could be found.
“If not for the neighbors, she probably wouldn’t have survived,” Nussle said.