PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — Kevin O’Donnell saved a woman from a house fire on Magnolia Way in Punta Gorda Sunday afternoon.
He said he saw her standing by the front door and grabbed her away from the house. But then he said she tried to rescue her partner.
“She of course is panicking and screaming, So, she ran back in when my back was turned. She ran back in! I was like no!” He said.
Then, he followed her inside the burning home and pulled her out. Something Charlotte County Fire and EMS spokesperson Todd Dunn doesn’t recommend.
“That’s what we’re here for. We have the protective gear, breathing apparatus,” said Dunn. “Don’t ever go back into a fire. Once you’re out, stay out.”
O’Donnell who’s visiting his cousin who lives next door to the house fire, said he and a neighbor Beth Nelligan had to hold the woman down, so she wouldn’t go inside again. Nelligan said she held her knee on her to prevent her from running back in.
“Of course you’re going to do everything in your power to help somebody,” she said.
They said she was trying to go back inside for her partner. But luckily he made it out through the back door.
The homeowner Nancy Panoch said the people inside during the fire had been renting the house for about a month. She said she’s glad they made it out alive. She also said the fire is devastating because this is the home she inherited from her deceased parents.
“There’s memories in there, too. It was my parents’ home and I took really good care of it,” she said.
Panoch said she has insurance that will hopefully cover the repairs for the home. The Florida Fire Marshal is investigating what caused the fire.
