HASTINGS, Fla. — A young child was airlifted to a Gainesville hospital in critical condition after being rescued from a burning home on New Year’s Day, authorities said.
St. Johns County Fire Rescue was called to a house fire in the 300 block of Carter Street Thursday afternoon. When they got there, crews found smoking coming from the home and a 3-year-old outside, SJCFR said.
St. Johns County Sheriff’s Deputy Anthony Coleman and a neighbor were first to notice the home was in flames about 1:30 p.m. That’s when they jumped into action.
As firefighters arrived, Deputy Coleman was carrying the unresponsive boy out of a window. He was treated at the scene and then flown to Shands Gainesville in critical condition.
The neighbor was taken to Flagler Hospital in stable condition to be checked out for smoke inhalation, authorities said. There were no other injuries reported.
Damage to the home was limited, with firefighters able to douse the flames within minutes of their arrival, according to SJCFR.
The State Fire Marshal’s Office is looking into what might have started the fire. Meanwhile, the Department of Children and Families is investigating why the toddler was apparently home alone at the time.
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.
