NORFOLK, Va. (WVEC) — Firefighters rescued a woman from the second floor of a burning apartment in Norfolk Thursday.
According to Battalion Chief Julian Williamson, crews were dispatched to the 400 block of Fenchurch at 2:47 and they arrived two minutes later. Williamson said smoke was coming from the second floor of the building when crews arrived and there were reports of a person inside.
Firefighters battled heavy smoke but were able to get 50-year-old Carolyn Bates out. She was taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and is in critical condition.
No other occupants were located.
The apartment did have working smoke alarms and they were sounding when firefighters arrived.
A neighbor rescued a pet from the home prior to Fire-Rescue arrival.
Norfolk Fire Marshals are on scene at this time investigating the cause of the fire.
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.
