An occupant of a north Charlotte church building escaped injury after being rescued by firefighters in a two-alarm blaze early Tuesday morning, authorities said.
The blaze was reported about 2:15 a.m. at Faith Liberation Community Christian Church, on Moretz Avenue and Lucena Street. That is in Charlotte’s Druid Hills community, near Druid Hills School.
Charlotte fire Capt. Jackie Gilmore said a passerby noticed smoke coming from the building and called 911. Firefighters found heavy smoke coming from the single-story building’s doors and windows when they arrived. Crews quickly issued a second alarm.
Gilmore said the occupant of the building was unaware of the fire, and crews removed the person safely. Firefighters had to force their way through metal doors and remove steel bars from windows to get inside the building.
Gilmore said it took a crew of 42 firefighters about 20 minutes to bring the blaze under control.
Investigators said the fire was electrical in nature and started in the kitchen. Damage was estimated at $40,000, authorities said.
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.
