GALVESTON — A fire official confirmed one person has died in an early morning apartment fire in downtown Galveston.
The man who died was among five people and two dogs initially rescued from the five-story building in the 500 block of 21st Street shortly after 5 a.m. this morning, Interim Galveston Fire Chief Mike Wisko said.
Ambulance crews responded to the scene and took the man to the hospital. He was the only one transported, Wisko said.
Resident David Biondo, who knows the man hurt in the fire, said he saw firefighters pull him out of the building.
“He was unconscious,” Biondo said, as first responders tended to his neighbor.
Firefighters and police found heavy smoke on the third floor. Biondo said he awoke to someone yelling “fire!”
Another neighbor kicked in the deceased resident’s door, but the smoke was too thick to see inside, Biondo said.
Although firefighters called a second alarm as a precaution, they had the building evacuated and the fire extinguished within 24 minutes. The integrity of the building was unaffected, and fire only one apartment
Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.
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