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Cheviot neighbors credit team effort to save woman in fire

Posted at 11:22 PM, Nov 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-20 19:05:32-05

CHEVIOT, Ohio -- Neighbors carried an elderly woman out of an apartment fire Sunday evening.

The fire started at about 7 p.m. at 3616 Westwood Northern Boulevard.

Donna Parker helps the woman -- who she said is on oxygen and can't walk -- with meals sometimes. Another neighbor knocked on her door because Parker has a key to the woman's apartment. 

"I went in her house and it was just smoke pouring out," she said. "I tried to get her. The smoke was so thick, I couldn't see where I was going. And my grandson came barrelling past me and he grabbed her and pulled her out of her room."

Another neighbor, Karis Kanet, stepped in to help. 

"She was holding onto the railing so tight," she said. "I couldn't just pick her up, so he grabbed her legs and we carried her out to the front step."

Capt. Scott Scherpenberg said firefighters saw Brandon Topicz carrying the woman out of the fire as they were getting ready to use a hose.

First responders transported the woman to a hospital for second-degree burns.

"I'm just so very grateful that nobody was really hurt bad," Parker said. "I know she is in the hospital and she's burnt, but it could've been so much worse." 

Scherpenberg said the fire was contained to one unit, but six units were affected by smoke damage.

Approximately 30 firefighters worked to extinguish the fire.