Liberty University student rescued from burning duplex

LYNCHBURG -- There is never a good time to have a house fire, but some times are better than others.

Such was the case Sunday afternoon, when five residents of a Watergate Drive duplex escaped a fast-moving blaze that started on the ground and raced up vinyl siding to the attic.

"If this had happened at 3 a.m., it could have been very bad," said Ed Jones, battalion chief with the Lynchburg Fire Department. "It also helped that it was on a Sunday, and there was very little traffic out on Ward's Ferry Road."

Firefighters still needed to rescue one of the occupants, a Liberty University student trapped on the second floor.

"She couldn't get out through the front," Jones said, "so she did the right thing. She closed her door, and stayed by the window to get help."

A neighbor, Austin Toft, saw the woman upstairs and alerted firemen. Three members of the fire department's rescue company then hoisted a ladder up to the window and brought her down.

"She wasn't hurt," Jones said, "but she was shaken up. We only had a few more minutes there to get her."

Jones declined to release the name of the rescued woman, other than to identify her as a Liberty student.

"This is what we train for," he said. "Things don't always go the way you plan, but this time, they did."

Firefighters also managed to keep the blaze from spreading to two adjacent duplexes.

"It melted some of the siding on the other buildings," said Jones, "but no major damage. The duplex where it started was pretty much a total loss."

Jones said three engine companies, a truck company, a medic unit and the rescue team responded to the fire, which was called in just after noon. The fire apparently started in some mulch and spread to nearby bushes before leaping to the building itself.

The American Red Cross and Liberty University are working on finding short-term shelter for the five displaced residents.

"I can't give the Red Cross enough credit," Jones said. "Like everyone else, they're losing funds, but they're still right there when they're needed."

Jones also praised Toft, the neighbor who spotted the trapped woman on the second floor.

Darrell Laurant is a staff writer at The News & Advance in Lynchburg.