A housefire was reported early Sunday morning in Sterling at 3:45 a.m. An off-duty firefighter was woken up by his daughter after 3:00 a.m. to be alerted of a house fire in the area where he lived.
Captain Joshua Thompson with Central Emergency Services provided the details to KSRM, “The way it started was, a guy that actually works for our department and his daughter woke him up at about 3:00 a.m. and looked across the lake and saw a house on fire. She woke him up. He woke up and looked out the window and saw it and thought maybe it was just a bonfire across the lake, but decided to go investigate it. When he went and investigated it, he found a house on fire with people inside that were sleeping. He kicked in their door, woke them up, and got them out. Probably saved their life, I’m sure. They had no idea that their house was on fire.”
Thompson talks about Central Emergency Services’ response to put out the fire, “It looked like the fire started at the back of the building and Station 3, our Sterling station, was the first engine on scene. They arrived and deployed hose lines. Engine 1 followed shortly after. There was four people on station one, so we’re at six now. Medic 1 showed up, so eight. You’re looking at a total of 14 people. Once the two engines arrived, a quick knockdown of the fire occurred. It saved the majority of the structure. It was just pretty much the deck and outside of the rear of the structure that had most of the damage.”
Adam Bell was the off-duty firefighter and his daughter was identified as Jessica. Thompson said Bell likely saved the family’s life, “Yep, Jessica is who woke Adam up and Adam is the one who went in and got the two people out before the engines arrived.”
No other information is known at this time.
