Saturday, September 17, 2016
Staff report
WARREN
The granddaughter of an elderly couple that survived an early-morning house fire Friday says the couple’s neighbor saved their lives.
“We are very grateful for him saving my grandparents’ lives,” Lisa Mamula said by telephone Friday afternoon.
Her grandparents, Eldred and Ruth Davis, both 81, were sleeping at the time of the 3:32 a.m. fire on Southern Boulevard, but a neighbor across the street called 911 while her boyfriend went to the Davis residence to wake them up.
“It’s amazing. It’s such a blessing,” she said. “The smoke alarms weren’t waking them up. He just didn’t give up,” she said of the man, who she wants to meet and thank him with a gift basket.
Her grandmother heard the knocking but was afraid to answer the door, and her grandfather doesn’t hear well and didn’t wake up, Mamula said.
But because the neighbor was so persistent, Ruth Davis did answer the door.
“My grandma said he was adamant. She was afraid to go to the door, but she did, and he said, ‘Your house is on fire.’ So she got grandpa.”
Both escaped the home without any injuries, Mamula said.
“He saved their lives. Even if the fire department would have put the fire out, my grandma’s in a compromised state. She’s been in chemotherapy for a year,” she said.
Ruth Davis is battling cancer, so even a minor injury or smoke inhalation might have been fatal, Mamula said.
Most of their home was damaged, so they are staying with family members, said city Fire Chief Ken Nussle.
The 911 call about the fire came from a woman across the street from the Davises, who said her boyfriend was at the Davis residence knocking on the door but was having trouble waking them.
Firefighters believe the blaze started in the basement and spread to the first floor and a garage attached with a breezeway.
The Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office is working to determine the fire’s cause, Nussle said.