2 women rescued from blaze

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, February 2, 2005

EVERETT -Edna Barrett and Jolene Pullen were trapped.

Flames licked the side of their apartment building and thick black smoke blocked their door. They opened a window and called for help.

Firefighters work as flames break through the roof of an apartment building on W. Marine View Drive in Everett on Wednesday.

Six men who had seen the fire came to their rescue on Wednesday, forming a 15-foot-tall human ladder to lower the two disabled roommates out of the second story of the building.

“If these folks had not gotten them out, they would have been in a bad way,” Everett Fire Marshal Warren Burns said. “If they’d stayed there, I don’t like their chances.”

The fire apparently was started by a candle in a ground-floor apartment in the 2600 block of W. Marine View Drive, Everett Battalion Chief Nick Walker said.

Firefighters battle a fire in an apartment building.

Barrett, 55, and Pullen, 46, were in their upstairs apartment when the blaze began about 3 p.m.

Neighbors Larry Bronner, Greg Byrd and Jerry Hopkins saw the fire and ran to help. They were joined by Roberto Angulo, Steve Bowman and Bob Collinge, who were driving by and noticed the fire.

“I couldn’t believe how far those flames were shooting when I drove up,” said Collinge, a Granite Falls resident who was on his way to Naval Station Everett.

Yelling, “Is there anybody there?” Collinge ran to look inside the window of an adjoining apartment. There was a cat inside, so Collinge broke the window so the cat could escape, he said.

Meanwhile, Angulo, 20, made a U-turn on W. Marine View Drive while his passenger, Andrea Kellerman, 16, of Marysville called 911 on a cell phone to report the fire. Seeing Collinge on one side of the house, Angulo ran to the opposite side to see if anyone needed help.

“I saw these guys trying to get those two ladies out,” Angulo said.

The rescuers determined that the only way to save Barrett and Pullen was to help them climb out a window about 20 feet above some stairs.

Byrd, 41, acted first, climbing to the highest point of a handrail on the apartment stairwell. He then launched himself upward to grab the second-story windowsill. Because the stairs were angled down, his 6-foot-3 frame was hanging in the air about 5 feet above the stairs.

The five other rescuers swarmed around Byrd, holding his legs up. Then Barrett and Pullen were urged to climb out over Byrd.

They didn’t want to go at first, but finally Pullen climbed out feet first. She slid over Byrd’s head, then over his arms and finally down his back.

“I was getting ready to buckle,” Byrd said. “I was going to fall.”

But Pullen slipped into the waiting arms below, a bruise on her shoulder her only injury.

Byrd then dropped off the ledge and Bronner, 47, climbed up to the windowsill to take his place. “I ain’t going to lie to you, I was scared,” Bronner said later.

Barrett seemed reluctant to climb down, said Bowman, 57, of Marysville.

“She couldn’t breathe very well and she didn’t want to come down,” he said. “But the smoke was so bad, she wouldn’t have lasted long.”

Barrett’s rescue wasn’t as smooth. “I kind of fell” on Bronner, she said.

She continued to fall, but there were enough helping hands waiting below to keep her from injuring herself.

Jerry Hopkins, 45, of Everett was one of those who helped catch Barrett. Justin Lankford, 60, of Everett had also stopped to help.

The rescuers said they were relieved that their plan worked.

“We want to thank God for allowing us to be at the right place at the right time,” Hopkins said.

Later, Barrett and Pullen saw their rescuers behind the apartment building.

“Thank you so much,” Pullen said, giving them all hugs.

Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@ heraldnet.com.