By Shannon Halligan
KSHB – November 18, 2013
Strong winds Saturday knocked over a tree which hit a transformer, causing a surge that may have started a fire and could have cost an Overland Park woman her life, if not for her quick-thinking neighbors.
Firefighters responded to the fire in near 71st and Hardy Saturday afternoon. Jordan McDonald and her family live two doors down.
“We heard a big noise and there was smoke everywhere and so we were running down there and there were four yards on fire and then we came back up here and saw her house smoking from the attic,” McDonald said.
They heard the transformer blow and moments later saw the woman’s house on fire.
“So we were knocking on her door, banging on her door and we kind of pulled the door open. She thought we were going to rob her and we were like no ma’am your house is on fire,” Derrick Bowen, another neighbor, explained.
“We tried to get her to come outside but she wouldn’t because she can’t walk on her own so we had to break her door down and get her out,” McDonald said.
The fire department credited the neighbors as heroes, but that thought didn’t even occur to them.
“Really you don’t have much time to think. You’re just like Oh fire, there’s somebody in the house, try and get them out,” Ryan Fry, one of the rescuers, remarked.
It’s estimated the fire caused about $50,000 worth of damage but the exact cause is not clear yet.
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