CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. – Fire crews were dispatched to a house fire on the 400-block of East North Street in Charles Town just before 12:30 p.m. on Thursday.
They arrived less than 10 minutes later, which may have prevented the blaze from becoming deadly.
Officials said that two people escaped the home before they arrived, but one woman was still trapped inside.
They battled heavy flames, but eventually located her.
“The room that the victim was found in was engulfed in fire when we first got here,” said 1st Lt. John Considine of the Citizens Fire Company. “It took us about five or 10 minutes to get the flames down enough to conduct a primary search.”
She was rescued and taken to Jefferson Medical Center, before being flown to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore for treatment. She was listed in critical, but stable condition.
Two firefighters were also hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. They were treated and discharged from the hospital before 7 p.m.
Jefferson County fire units, with assistance from crews in Berkeley County and Loudoun County, brought the blaze under control by 3 p.m.
The West Virginia State Fire Marshal and the Charles Town Police Department are investigating.
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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