Disabled veteran thanks neighbor for saving his life after apartment caught on fire

‘Thank God for him’: NC veteran thanks man for saving his life after apartment catches on fire

WSOCTV.com
News Staff
January 19, 2020

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A North Carolina veteran was able to thank his neighbor for the first time since he saved his life and got him out of his burning apartment last month.

Our news partner WLOS was there as Tony reunited with his neighbor, Douglas Tribble. Tony’s apartment caught fire last month -- the damage was so bad, the walls were charred black.

Tony said he would not have made it out alive if Tribble had not come for him.

“I would have stayed there not realizing the smoke that I was gathering,” Tony said.

Tony does not get around very well -- he has to use a walker. Tribble said that made the rescue even more of a race against time.
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Firefighters Battled Apartment Fire in Santa Monica

Man In Custody After Explosive Fire At Santa Monica Apartment 
CBS Los Angeles
November 29, 2015

SANTA MONICA (CBSLA.com) — Authorities say one person has been taken into custody on suspicion of arson after a huge explosion and fire rocked a Santa Monica apartment.

The explosion unfolded about 1 a.m. Sunday at a second-story apartment of a complex in the 1800 block of Euclid Street. Neighbors say it was then that they heard a huge explosion. A fire erupted afterwards. “I was watching TV and tried to go to sleep and I just heard a big blast that pretty much shook the apartment,” Nguyen Trinh, a neighbor, said.

Neighbors described that person as a veteran. They said they believe he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. According to authorities, the man allegedly told them he turned on the gas, which they believe caused the explosion. read more here

Firefighters and Vietnam Veteran Rush to Save People Trapped by Fire

Huntsville firefighters, Vietnam veteran rescue residents trapped in apartment fire
Al.com
By Jonathan Grass
September 26, 2014

Huntsville firefighters rescued two people from an upstairs unit when a fire broke out at Redbrick Square Apartments on Friday. Some residents fled the building by jumping from the upstairs windows.
(Jonathan Grass/jgrass@al.com)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- A fire in a north Huntsville apartment complex left residents fleeing the building anyway they could, even if that meant through the second story windows. When two of those residents didn't get out, firefighters went in and pulled them to safety.

Fire crews arrived at Redbrick Square Apartments at 2216 North Memorial Parkway at about 6 p.m. to find heavy smoke coming from a downstairs unit. That smoke traveled the halls throughout the building. Huntsville Fire and Rescue spokesman Capt. Frank McKenzie said everyone had gotten out at that point except two women in the unit directly above the one on fire.

A neighbor in the complex came to the rescue of another woman trying to escape to the ground below. Billy Smith said he smelled the smoke and followed it to the building where his friend lived. He saw his friend had already made it out safe but a woman was trying to get down to the ground. The Vietnam veteran said he grabbed her legs and helped her down.
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Army vet struggling to find a place to live

Army vet struggling to find a place to live
By Thor Jourgensen
The Daily Item

LYNN — A disabled veteran who lost her apartment to an arson fire said she could lose her temporary home downtown any day now if she can’t find longer-term housing.

“I don’t have many choices right now,” said Kim Valenti.

The Army veteran said her 30-day tenancy in a Liberty Street apartment ran out April 29 and she has scrambled to find a new home she can share with cats Lefty and Righty and her bird, Luca.

Luca and Valenti fled from 145 Lewis St. on March 25 when a fire, subsequently determined to be arson by investigators, started in the building. The cats spent several days in the burnt-out building before being rescued, and Valenti received help in finding her current apartment from the American Red Cross and Salvation Army, local shelter workers, city officials and her former landlord.
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Disabled vet rescued from burning apartment

Disabled vet rescued from burning apartment
ABC News
Saturday, January 05, 2013

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A veteran and a pizza delivery driver rushed into a burning Houston apartment to save a trapped man early Saturday.

It happened just before 9pm at the Midtown Terrace Suites on Blodgett. Investigators said the old hotel has been converted to an apartment complex and caters to local veterans.
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Two tour Iraq veteran lost everything in fire

At 21 Steven Stack has now survived two deployments into Iraq and now, a fire.

Iraq War Vet Loses Everything In Condo Fire
CBS
Edward Moody
December 28, 2012

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A large fire ripped through more than a half-dozen condos in Uptown Minneapolis Friday morning, sending huge clouds of smoke into the air and one resident to the hospital.

The flames quickly chewed through three floors at the 100-year-old building on Lake Street and Irving.

The fire burned for hours before dozens of firefighters could finally get the upper hand. The culprit was found to be unattended candles.

The people who lived in the eight-unit building lost everything. Among them was a young Iraq War veteran who says he’s been trying to get back on his feet.

Steven Stack says he heard about the fire while riding the bus on his way home from work.

“I did not expect that it was the building I’ve been staying in,” he said. “You go to work, you get off and you just plan on going about your day.”

Stack says he served two tours of duty in Iraq. The 21-year-old army specialist says he’s been working through post-traumatic stress disorder. He says seeing flames shooting out of his building didn’t help his condition.
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Fort Carson Soldier saved lives in fire while own life was falling apart

Critics: Fort Carson policy targeted troubled, wounded soldiers
By BILL MURPHY JR.
Stars and Stripes
Published: November 15, 2011

FORT CARSON, Colo. — Army Cpl. Joshua Smith saw the orange glow against the South Carolina night sky long before he reached his sister’s apartment complex. The fire in the back buildings was intense. People stood in shock, watching the blaze.

Smith leapt from his rental car and vaulted a five-foot brick wall, yelling at onlookers to call for help. He grabbed an exercise weight someone had left in the yard, threw it through a sliding glass door and burst into the burning building. He shepherded a mother and her 16-month-old daughter to safety, then turned his attention to the other apartments, kicking down doors, running room to room, making sure no one else was trapped. By the time he emerged, firefighters had arrived. The local TV news hailed the 22-year-old infantryman — home on leave after a tour in Iraq before transferring to Fort Carson, Colo. — whose quick action saved lives.

“It was easy,” Smith said later. “Nobody was shooting at me.”

Sixteen months later, in November 2010, the acting commander at Fort Carson, Brig. Gen. James H. Doty, pinned the Soldier’s Medal, the Army’s highest award for noncombat heroism, to Smith’s chest. It was the young soldier’s second valor medal in three years in the military, after an Army Commendation Medal with valor device that he’d been awarded for his combat service.

For all his heroics, however, Smith’s life was falling apart.
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Search for bodies begins in St. Petersburg after fire

Search for bodies begins in St. Pete
"I opened my door and the hallway was smoky," Douglas Parks, 41, said. "I looked out back and black smoke was just rolling over the fence. I said, 'this baby is on fire' and dialed 911." Four minutes after the call, firefighters were on the scene battling the blaze. It took more than 100 firefighters to quench the blaze.

Firefighters rescue 13 in burning South Los Angeles building

Firefighters rescue 13 in burning South Los Angeles building
By Rong-Gong Lin II
Sat, 25 Oct 2008 10:16:21 AM
Thirteen people trapped by smoke and fire on the second story of an apartment building in South Los Angeles were screaming for help through windows this morning before they were rescued by firefighters, officials said.
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Neighbor catches two children dropped from burning apartment

Mother drops 2 children to safety from fire
Neighbor helped family trapped in 3d-floor residence
By George Barnes
Worcester Telegram &Amp; Gazette / October 19, 2008

CLINTON - Trapped by a fire engulfing their third-floor apartment, a mother dropped her two children to a neighbor before she was rescued by firefighters.

Kristy Laperle-O'Leary was being treated yesterday at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester for injuries suffered in the fire at 121-123 Sterling St. Fire Chief Richard J. Hart said her two children, ages 3 and 7, were not injured.
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Missing female LT from Fort Bragg and a fire

Fire at missing Lt.’s home investigated

Staff report
Posted : Thursday Jul 10, 2008 16:27:49 EDT

Police are investigating as arson a fire at the apartment of a female lieutenant who failed to report to work at Fort Bragg, N.C., Thursday morning, the Fayetteville Observer is reporting.

The case is now described as an arson and missing person investigation, said Fayetteville police Capt. David Houp, according to the newspaper.

The soldier’s name has not been released. She lives in Morganton Place Apartments on Wayah Creek Drive off post, according to the newspaper.

The investigation into her disappearance began after a co-worker visited her apartment to check on her, the Fayetteville newspaper reported. The co-worker found signs of fire in two bedrooms, and the soldier was gone but her car was still in the parking lot.
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So what's going on at Fort Bragg when they cannot seem to keep their female soldiers safe?