Grandmother Fights for her Life after being Trapped Inside Burning Home

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – A Chattanooga grandmother fights for her life after her home caught on fire.

It happened around 5:30 this morning on the 1700 block of Rubio Street.

“Had she gotten out sooner, more immediately then perhaps we wouldn’t be talking about her fighting for her life now”, said Public Information Officer Bruce Garner.

Multiple fire crews responded to the home after receiving several calls about a house fire and people possibly trapped inside.

One neighbor describes what they she saw when they walked outside their home.

“We came out and saw the house on fire and came back to the house and told us to call 911.Just start flaming up everywhere. We thought some kids were in there too. Cause she always have her grandchildren so we didn’t know is the kids were in there or not.”

“When the firefighters arrived there was a lot of smoke and flames actually coming from one of the bedroom windows”, said Garner.

When firefighters got inside they searched for victims.

Firefighters only found one victim. A grandmother lying unconscious on the floor of her living room.

“They grabbed her up and rushed her outside to a waiting ambulance. She was critically injured. Severe smoke inhalation was among the health issues she’s got with this.”

She was rushed to Erlanger Hospital, but was later flown to the burn unit in Augusta, Georgia.

“What should be emphasized is the value of smoke alarms and the early warning it provides. Now in this particular case we don’t know if the smoke alarms worked, but what we do know is that she was in the house too long.”

Fire investigators are currently working to determine what may have caused that fire.

The damage to the home is estimated to be at $50,000.