Good Samaritans rescued elderly man from burning home

A house is on fire, but firefighters are on their way and will make a quick knockdown.

That’s a common assumption many passers-by make when they encounter a fire scene.

But by then, it could be too little, too late, as it nearly was on the morning of Nov. 5 in Bowmanstown.

In her travels, Gail Strohl saw bright orange flames shooting from a double-family home at 607 Fireline Road.

Not far behind, Bob Shotwell and Casey Doherty were following each other on their way to Lowe’s when they saw the fire.

Within the span of a few short minutes, the three were about to become intertwined in a way that will stick with them for the rest of their lives.

‘A lot of smoke’

Strohl was the first of the three to come across the scene.

She was heading home and saw a lot of smoke. “I momentarily thought, ‘that’s not chimney smoke,’ ” Strohl said. “So, I turned around at the first side road and when I came back, I noticed two women standing at the house; there was a lot of smoke already, so I quick parked my car and ran down and as I was running down, I was yelling ‘Did anyone call 911, is there anyone in the house?’ ”

A young girl said, “My grandfather’s in there.”

“Flames were already coming out from under the front of the house, so I ran around the back to the kitchen door,” Strohl said. “I went in and I came into a kitchen so I was just yelling, ‘Is anyone in here?’ ”

She opened every door she saw.

Doherty and Shotwell came in behind her and found the stairwell.

“We turned around and went back, pulled off to the side of the road, parked the vehicle and ran down to the house,” Doherty said. “We just knew there was an elderly man inside.”

The elderly man had dementia and was not aware the house was filling with smoke.

Saving a life

Strohl wept as she described what happened next.

“The elderly man was just sitting there so peacefully in his chair, and the guys tried to get him to stand up, but he didn’t realize (what was going on), and I yelled ‘pick him up’,” she said. “By the time we got to the bottom of the house, it was so engulfed by smoke, we could not see what we were doing.”

Doherty said, “We ran in, ran up, the guy’s just looking at us with a blank stare; he didn’t know what was going on.”

“We just grabbed him, (Shotwell) grabbed his legs, I grabbed his upper body, and we walked out.”

“By the time we got out, we couldn’t see a thing,” he said. “You could only hold your breath for so long, gasping.”

That’s when Strohl said she saw a little gate.

“We carried him directly out; as they were carrying him through the kitchen, I grabbed the kitchen chair because I knew the guy was elderly and I did not want him on the ground, so I just grabbed the chair as I was running out,” she said. “I noticed there was a car (on fire) parked right in front of the front porch, so I told the guys we got to carry him out, the car’s going to explode.”

Shotwell said Strohl guided them down to the kitchen to the back door, and they sat the man on a chair while they took a moment to catch their breath.

“Then we noticed the car started on fire, and all three of us carried him in the chair and carried him across the street,” Shotwell said. “Then we ended up sitting with him in the hospital.”

Afterward, all involved were treated at the hospital for smoke inhalation.

A relative of the elderly man said the man is doing fine.

The aftermath

Several weeks after saving a life, all three people shared their thoughts on the experience.

Shotwell, of Palmerton, said it was just a “coincidence” that they all happened to drive by while the fire was raging.

“We can’t believe we actually did that,” Shotwell said. “We didn’t think twice about it.”

Doherty, of Archbald, Lackawanna County, said impulse simply took over.

“There was not even a thought really; we just heard there was somebody inside and ran in for him,” Doherty said. “I felt pretty good that we actually got him out of there and got him to safety.”

Strohl, of Mahoning Township, said it was sad that the man had no clue that the house was on fire.

“It’s something I’ll never forget,” Strohl said. “I don’t look at this like a heroic thing.”

Strohl said the experience was unlike any she had ever been involved in.

“It was pretty overwhelming,” she said. “I had never done anything like this before.”

Need for volunteers

Multiple fire companies responded to the double-family home at 607 Fireline Road, where borough fire Chief Michael Spairana said firefighters encountered a fully involved dwelling fire.

Spairana said the front porch had substantial damage, and the back had moderate damage.

The cause of the fire is unknown, though fire marshals were called to the scene to investigate.

Spairana said instances such as this fire are why local fire departments are in need of more volunteers.

“We need firemen,” Spairana said. “We need bodies.”

Strohl concurred, noting that she, Doherty and Shotwell were able to get there before the fire department was able to arrive.

“I would like to see people realize what happened,” she said. “And take a second thought and get involved (with their local fire departments).”

Strohl said the idea of waiting for firefighters to arrive never crossed her mind.

“There was no thought; you just don’t leave somebody behind,” she said. “I would hope everybody would feel that way.”