Smoke detectors save firefighter's family

For firefighter Kevin Gramlisch of Randles, Mo., a small investment in safety paid off immeasurably.

The volunteer Delta Fire Protection District captain escaped a house fire early Tuesday morning, along with his pregnant wife, Penny, and their children, when smoke detectors alerted them to an attic fire. The fire started sometime after midnight at 125 N. Mentz.

"We just woke up to smoke detectors going off," he said. "We've got one in the master bedroom and one near the kids' bedrooms. The one down by their bedroom went off first, so we got up, got the kids out of the house, and by that time the second one was going off."

Responders were on the scene from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., Delta training officer John Sachen said. They received mutual aid from pumper and tanker trucks from Oran and Advance.

"It appears to be electrical," Gramlisch said of the fire's origin. He said the blaze started above the utility room.

Gramlisch is grateful the couple and their children, a 6-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy, escaped unharmed.

"It was pretty uneventful -- in that we got out so quickly," he said. "That little $10 smoke detector was worth the money."

Gramlisch works for Beta Corp. in Cape Girardeau, and his wife works in the home health-care field. They are currently staying with family while their home is uninhabitable.

"It went through the roof," he said of the fire. "The ceilings are all collapsed in it, so it's not livable right now. Half of the house on the lower section has heavy water and smoke damage. The main fire was up in the attic, and it burnt through the rafters, so the roof's sagging right now."

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160