Early Sunday morning a devastating house fire in the 3500 block of Laguna Court took the life of a 14 year old girl.
Midway Fire District , Holly-Navarre Fire District , Escambia County Fire Rescue, Lifeguard ambulance and Santa Rosa County Sheriff”s Office responded around 12:40 am Sunday morning.
The second alarm called around 1 am saw Gulf Breeze Fire Department, Badgad Fire Department and Avalon Fire Department.
The unidentified 14 year old girl was brought out of the home from the upstairs area and taken to Gulf Breeze Hospital where she died from her injuries.
Other occupants of the home escaped with no injuries.
The fire was contained around 2:30 am.
The fire is under investigation by the state fire marshal.
By Melissa Tucker
So, I’ve been in EMS for about 17 years. I can’t tell you how many fire standby calls I’ve ran. But I can tell you that I’ve never seen a debriefing like this. All men from several different fire departments and counties kneeled in a circle debriefing the call. And to watch them walk away afterwards upset with themselves as if they could have done more or a better job breaks my heart. These men did an amazing job. It took less than 20 min (19min and some seconds) from the time dispatch got the call to the time they found the patient and had her to the back door for EMS to take over. 20 min, that might sound like a long time and when you’re on a scene like this 20 min feels like 20 hours. Im gonna break it down for those of you not working public safety. In that long but short 20 min this is what happened. The 911 call comes into dispatch, dispatch then sends the tones out for the fire departments to respond, fire departments hear their tones and stop whatever they’re doing, go to the truck bay, they gear up, drive to the location; in this situation it was in the very back of a gated community at the end of a dead end street. Arrive on scene, set up command, make entry and then have to find a missing person in a dark, smoke and flame filled house in the middle of the night. Not to mention this house just happens to be a huge 3 story home. They managed to do all this and find the patient behind not 1 but 2 locked doors. Unfortunately even if everything goes textbook perfect and we perform at our best it’s not always the ending we hope for. If you happen to know any of these guys a simple good job, a pat on the back, an ear and a shoulder if they need to talk can mean more than you know. Fire Stations 35, 33, 37, 41, 12, 13 and ECFR Station 13 and 3. I can’t tell you how many men are in this picture but it’s a lot more than it looks. If i was a little taller it might have shown more of the men from these stations.
photo by Melissa Tucker
