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Quick Thinking

Neighbors, Police Help Pair Escape Morning Fire

A woman and her child were helped out of a burning Regent Street home Thursday by Good Samaritans and an officer with the Jamestown Police Department. No one was injured in the fire, though the property was heavily damaged. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

A woman and her child were rescued from a second-story window with the help of several Good Samaritans and Jamestown police.

No one was injured in the fire at 34 Regent St., reported to the Jamestown Fire Department shortly before 9 a.m.

Carlos Echevarria was home when his daughter alerted him to the fire across the street. Echevarria ran over and met two more neighbors who were attempting to alert the building’s occupants.

“People had a ladder right here working (construction) next door, so my first reaction was to go get the ladder,” Echevarria said.

Residents who lived on the first floor were able to make it out unharmed. However, due to the fire blocking a stairway to the second floor, the woman and her child were trapped inside.

“I got the ladder and just threw it right up there,” Echevarria said. “I went up, and there was just so much smoke up there. I told the woman to give me the baby. (The woman) was a little scared to come down, but I told her she needed to come down. Eventually she got one leg over and we were able to get her out.”

An officer with the Jamestown Police Department who responded to Regent Street also helped the woman and child escape the blaze.

“I’m just so happy the neighbors reacted when they did,” Echevarria said.

Donald Mowry, battalion chief with the Jamestown Fire Department, thanked Echevarria for helping to get the woman and child to safety. Mowry said the structure sustained significant damage and was uninhabitable.

It wasn’t immediately known how many people lived at the residence, though the local chapter of the American Red Cross was called to assist those displaced.

City fire investigators were called to help determine the cause of the blaze.

Follow Eric Tichy at twitter.com/erictichy

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