Scott City woman revived after morning fire

Kim Turnbough was pulled out of a window, then given CPR.

Roger Irey looked weary as he sat on a concrete yard ornament outside his blackened Scott City home.

His bandaged hand dangled between his knees and his head drooped. A few hours earlier, he had helped pull an unconscious Kim Turnbough from the home. She was on the brink of death.

While Irey waited for fire investigators to determine what caused the fire that ripped through his home, Turnbough was in intensive care at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis.

Turnbough, a woman in her late 30s, was inside the home at 1208 Fourth St. West in Scott City when a fire started. The fire is believed to have started in the area of a couch in the living room of the two-story home.

Scott City Fire Chief Jay Cassout said the woman was in bed when the fire broke out in the home around 9 a.m. Turnbough shares the home with Roger Irey, an employee with the city's public works department. The city's public works director, Jack Rasnic, owns the property.

Irey was one of the first to arrive at the fire.

Cassout said Irey, with the aid of a passerby and a police officer, pulled Turnbough out of the house through a bedroom window. She wasn't breathing.

CPR was used to revive her, said Cassout. From there she was transported by the North Scott County Ambulance District to Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau for treatment for severe smoke inhalation, said ambulance director Larry Chasteen.

Turnbough's injuries required her to be flown to St. John's in St. Louis.

Irey suffered minor injuries. After the fire was extinguished, he was visibly upset. Other public works employees tried to comfort Irey.

Irey declined comment.

Cassout said the fire was raging when Scott City's engines arrived. Flames were leaping out of first-floor windows and were accompanied by intense heat and smoke. Scott City was assisted by the Cape Girardeau Fire Department.

Firefighters attacked the blaze through the front door entrance to the living room, working their way through the rest of the house. Windows were smashed out and a hole cut in the roof to allow ventilation.

Cassout said the fire was under control in about 20 minutes.

In the wake of the fire, the area around the first floor windows were left blackened, opening up to a charred interior. Cassout said there was extensive fire, heat and smoke damage on the first floor of the home.

"There's no telling how long the fire had been going before we got here," said Cassout.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182