MONTROSE, Arkansas — On Thursday, Jan. 16, Arkansas Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers pulled two women from a burning building in Montrose, Ark.
Volunteers from the Chainsaw Recovery Unit of Clarksville First Baptist Church were in Montrose helping to cover a roof damaged in the recent storms, and around 12 p.m. they noticed a large amount of smoke coming out of a home two houses down from their location.
Volunteers suspected the home was on fire and rushed down the street.
A neighbor nearby watching informed the volunteers that they believed two women were inside the house. Two Disaster Relief volunteers then entered the burning house to locate them.
Volunteers described the inside of the house as so filled with smoke it was very difficult to see. Initially they had trouble locating anyone. The women had not exited the home because one of them uses a wheelchair but was not in her wheelchair at the time the fire began. The other woman was attempting to help her friend exit when the volunteers arrived.
Disaster Relief volunteers were able to extract both women from the home to safety.
After the women had been safely removed from the house, one of them told volunteers that her young dog was still inside. Volunteers re-entered the home and located the dog on the back porch, unconscious apparently from smoke inhalation.
Volunteers moved the dog away from the fire and were able to revive the puppy using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.