MASON CITY – At approximately 7:15 a.m. Saturday morning a report of a house fire on the 700 block of North Pennsylvania was called in. One person escaped, but another was still in the house. There was smoke coming out of the back of the house.
Click here to view photos from the scene.
Further report said the location of the fire was an apartment complex at 714 N. Pennsylvania, still had somebody in Apartment #4, and white smoke was showing.
In the apartment complex lived six residents, approximately two cats, three dogs and three puppies. One resident was at work, one was gone, three were outside and one was rescued by the Mason City Fire Department. A female was taken by ambulance to Mercy Hospital. A witness said, “She was still breathing, but didn’t look too good.”
Danny, a resident, went around waking people up as the situation unfolded. He was able to wake Annetta and another male resident, but was unable to wake the female in apartment four. “I couldn’t see where I was going, the smoke was too thick,” said Danny.
After all the residents were accounted for, a search went on for the pets. One dog and one cat were already out. The cat, owned by the resident in apartment four, was put on oxygen, but didn’t make it. The Firefighters were able to locate three newborn puppies, but still had to find the mother. They brought out another dog as well. Danny, owner of the puppies said, “The mother is in my apartment, I was able to shut my door, so not too much smoke got in there. The puppies were in there for fifteen minutes before they were found, so the mother should be okay.” Soon, a firefigher brought out the mother to reunite her with her offspring. There was still one cat missing, it was said that it was in apartment four.
Annetta said, “Maybe this will teach her not to drink.” When asked if she was talking about the female in apartment four, she said “Yes, Lynn Ann Kofoot, (sp.), she was outside around 5:30 am, yelling, whistling and carring on. I believe she fell asleep with a lit cigarette.” Cause of the fire is still under investigation. The Fire Marshall was at the scene.
Annetta went on to say, “I haven’t been able to get ahold of the landlord, Joe Siems. I don’t know if he even knows yet. One of his other apartments was on fire about a week or so ago.” That incident was actually three weeks ago, on Friday, July 1, 2011 at 1608 S. Pennsylvania. There were no injuries at that fire. Siems, who lives in Nora Springs, called Annette back and was on his way.
The heroic efforts of the Firefighters did not go unnoticed. They got the female resident out, putting their own life at risk and they did it with no reward except for the “Thank You” from those at the scene.
