Gastonia firefighters save couple from house fire
Albert Bittle was at his home in Gastonia Saturday morning, working on his son's car, when he saw smoke pouring from his neighbor's home on Green Circle Drive.
"When I saw all the black smoke, it kicked in. Right then, I needed to do something," he said.
He began beating on the side of the house, but nobody came to the door. Then he called 911. Within five minutes, firefighters arrived to find that the house's occupants, Ella and Charles Clark, were inside.
Ella Clark's daughter, Lynn Campbell, said that firefighters found her parents in bed and carried each of them outside. They were alive but in critical condition, struggling with the effects of smoke inhalation.
"He was laying over top of her like he was trying to save her," she said.
The fire started at the Clarks' home shortly after 9 a.m. on Saturday, said Gastonia Fire Marshal Chris Stowe. Firefighters who arrived found a fire burning in the kitchen, and when they searched the house, they found the couple.
The couple was flown to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's burn unit with life-threatening injuries, Stowe said.
Battalion Chief Dustin Rudisill said that time was critical in their ability to save the couple.
Firefighters arrived at the home in less than five minutes, forced open the door, hosed down the flames, and pulled the couple from the home.
"We're talking seconds. Life or death. That's what we operate on any time we got a fire is in seconds," Rudisill said.
The Clarks, who had been renting their home for about five years, did not have working smoke detectors.
Campbell said that Charles Clark is 73, and Ella Clark will turn 73 in November. Ella Clark is disabled, and the couple lost four dogs and two cats in the fire.
"We think the stove shorted out," she said.
Campbell said that Ella Clark "woke up with black stuff all over her and wanted to know what happened."
Now, they're waiting. Charles Clark's condition is still fragile.
"He's coming through, but he's still critical," Campbell said.