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Harris County neighbor saves man from burning home
A Huffman, Texas man was pulled out of his burning home in a scary, nearly tragic start to the new year. FOX 26's Abigail Dye has more from the neighbor who saved his life.
HOUSTON - One man was life-flighted to the hospital after being caught inside a fire northeast of Houston.
According to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, Huffman Volunteer Fire Department members arrived in the 2700 block of 3rd Street in Huffman after reports of a structure fire at a mobile home park.
A neighbor, Ashley McGee happened to see the smoke out of the corner of her eye. She says it was fortuitous because the window she was looking out of had been covered with blinds for months.
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She had just taken the blinds down 30 minutes before seeing the smoke out of that same window.
"God works in mysterious ways and thank God that he gave us that urge to move the blinds after so long," she said.
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She told her boyfriend, James Dyer, about the smoke, who rushed out of their home and into his neighbor's without hesitation.
A man in his 50s was inside the home at the time of the fire.
"We saw the smoke and I had to get him out of there and didn't know what else to do," he said. 'I grabbed him, pulled him outside, it was super bad, his face was burned pretty bad his hands were burned pretty bad."
He says when he pulled the victim out, he was unconscious but eventually came too. He says the victim was able to stand on his own by the time help arrived but was badly burned and visibly coughing up black smoke. "He was coughing every time he breathed or coughed black smoke would come out," Dyer said.
Gonzalez says the man was then life-flighted to UTMB in Galveston. The man sustained burns to the upper part of his body, the sheriff later said. He is expected to survive.
The Harris County Fire Marshall's office says the victim is in his 50's and was flown to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and is expected to survive.
They say the fire was started by an overloaded electrical socket.
HCFMO investigators say the fire was accidental and caused by an overloaded socket. They are continuing to investigate.