A mom and her four-year-old daughter are safe thanks to the quick response from Winter Haven Firefighters at an early-morning fire.
On February 28, 2024 at approximately 1:25 a.m., members from the Winter Haven Fire Department and Winter Haven Police responded to a fire located at 108 11th St SE after a neighbor called in seeing flames from the residence.
Responding firefighters and officers attempted to rouse anyone inside of the house, to no avail. The fire was shooting through the roof at the back of the house. Winter Haven Firefighters breached the front door and heavy smoke billowed out of the structure. Firefighters located the mother just inside of an interior door disoriented and obviously confused and unaware of the fire. The mother and her four-year-old daughter had been asleep in the front part of the house.
When told the home was on fire, the mother immediately screamed about her daughter and ran back into the house to get her daughter. Firefighters ran after her and were quickly able to get to the mother and daughter. There was extreme low visibility due to the heavy smoke as firefighters quickly brought the mother and daughter to safety. They were both checked out by EMS personnel on scene and neither were injured or required any medical attention.
Firefighters extinguished the flames, which were contained to the back of the house. There were no injuries to any firefighters or officers.
The mother and daughter will be staying with family members and Red Cross has been notified for additional assistance. A cause has not been determined at this time and the fire is still under investigation.
“Our highly-trained firefighters ran into an extremely dangerous situation to rescue this mother and daughter and, no doubt, saved their lives,” said Fire Chief Sonny Emery. “I applaud the neighbor for the immediate call at the early-morning hour when most people are asleep.”