Grandma, 2 toddlers rescued from fire

~ Two passers-by saw flames coming out the back of a house on Bertling Street while those inside were taking an afternoon nap.

A loud pounding on the front door woke Ann Dewrock on Friday.

Her granddaughters, 2 and 3, began to stir from their afternoon nap. Annoyed, Dewrock thought the knocker was the UPS man, she said. She prepared to set the man straight as she opened the door. Instead of a brown-clad delivery man, she found a man in a maroon jacket named Pat Nissen.

"I said, 'Get your stuff and get out. The house is on fire. Is there anyone else in here?'" Nissen recalled later.

Even though there was no smoke in the house, Dewrock, 45, grabbed her granddaughters from the bedroom, and Nissen stepped inside to retrieve their dog.

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the call at 1303 Bertling St. at 1:33 p.m. By the time the department arrived, a fire had consumed the back of Dewrock's small, ranch-style brick home. Within five minutes, 19 firefighters had the blaze under control, said battalion chief Bob Kembel. The rear sustained heavy fire damage, and every room of the 1,100-square-foot home was covered with soot.

"It burned for a while before we got the call," Kembel said.

Outside, a charred frame remained of the back of the house. Few items inside the house escaped heat, smoke or water damage. But a collection of dolls and knickknacks were protected by glass curio cabinets. A row of special edition Barbie dolls, though undamaged, stood in packaging warped by the heat.

A tearful Dewrock told investigators that around 11:30 a.m., shortly before she put the girls down for a nap, she filled a plastic trash can with ashes from a wood-burning stove and placed it next to the house.

"I even ran my hands through the ashes to make sure they were not hot," Dewrock said.

Running hands through the ashes, however, is not enough, Kembel said. Just one little hot spot next to plastic can start a fire.

"They should never put ashes in anything flammable," he said. Instead, people should place them in a metal container at least 10 feet away from any building.

Around 1:30 p.m., Nissen, 40, and Vernon Huffman, 45, drove past the house, noticed the smoke and turned around at the next intersection. They then saw the flames coming from the back of the house, Nissen said.

Huffman called the fire department. He knew Dewrock regularly baby-sat, he said, and knew someone was likely home because her car was in the driveway.

While Nissen helped Dewrock and the girls escape, Huffman tried to extinguish the fire with a garden hose and tried to pull the cans away from the house, Huffman said. He gave up when the windows began to blow out.

Dewrock stood in a driveway across the street as family, friends and neighbors arrived one by one, each hugging Dewrock, some thanking Nissen and Huffman.

Firefighters busted the windows on the garage door to direct the heat and smoke out of the house. The fire had also crept into the attic, so they pulled the ceilings down through half the house.

Smoke alarms were sounding when firefighters entered, Kembel said, but Nissen and Huffman likely saved Dewrock and her grandchildren from any smoke inhalation.

jmetelski@semissourian.com