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Chief Brad Thomas (on bed) visited by his wife, Jennifer, and fellow firefighter Capt. Eric Chenault two years ago. |
Brad Thomas can relate to the woman he saved from a burning home Saturday night.
He's been there.
The 32-year-old Bowling Green Volunteer Fire Department chief rescued Theresa Storke from her burning Coghill Street home late Saturday night.
With the help of a fellow firefighter, Thomas pulled Storke out from the dresser that had fallen on her as smoke filled her bedroom so badly that she couldn't breathe.
Dressed in only a T-shirt, jeans and pair of Crocs shoes, Thomas climbed a ladder up to the window, where he was eventually able to rescue Storke, a Stafford County teacher and part-time obituary writer for The Free Lance-Star. She was hospitalized Saturday and released yesterday.
"I thought we might see her burn to death right there," Thomas said yesterday.
He said at first, he couldn't even see the dresser through the smoke, and was scared of losing her to the high temperatures building in the house because she was trapped.
'I know what it's like'
Seeing Storke trapped in her bedroom made Thomas, who also works full time as a firefighter at Fort A.P. Hill, reflect on his own struggle in February 2007, when he was the victim of a fire.
Almost two years ago, Thomas and another volunteer firefighter got stuck in a Bowling Green home after it burst into flames and the staircase fell out from under them.
After getting inside, the fire worsened and they were trapped on the second floor.
"I know what it's like to almost be out, but you can't get out," he said, comparing his experience to Storke's.
Thomas said he was the first person to arrive at Storke's home Saturday night, after she called 911 to report that she couldn't breathe and couldn't get out of her house.
"I pulled up right before the crew who got called," he said. "And I can see her hands hanging out of the window."
He said he felt compelled to help her as soon as he saw her, even though he wasn't dressed for the job.
After Storke was rescued Saturday night, she was put on a ventilator and sent to Mary Washington Hospital.
Storke's brother, Bowling Green Mayor David Storke, said she was sent home from the hospital yesterday and was feeling all right.
BOUNCING BACK
Thomas didn't get home quite so fast after his experience.
He and Capt. Eric Chenault, who had been stuck in the house with him, eventually survived by breaking out a second floor window and jumping to safety, but they were both badly burned.
Yesterday, Thomas described his injuries as third-degree burns, caused not by the flames, but by steam within his clothing that built from his sweat in the high temperatures.
It took several rounds of skin grafts to return him to normal and he still has scars that can be seen on his hands and wrists from crawling through the fire that night in 2007.
Doctors at the time said it would take 12-18 months for a full recovery. But after four restless months, he was back fighting fires.
Thomas said he wasn't sure what he would tell Storke when and if he got to talk to her, but he said he's pretty sure he knew what she was thinking Saturday night as she tried to climb to safety.
"My life didn't flash before my eyes, and that's OK," he said. "You don't think about what you'll be missing. You think about how you can get yourself out so that you don't miss anything."
Ellen Biltz: 540/374-5424
Email: ebiltz@freelancestar.com
