Teens save disabled woman from Milwaukie house fire

by David Krough and Mike Benner, KGW.com

kgw.com

Posted on August 23, 2010 at 3:04 PM

Updated today at 5:17 PM

MILWAUKIE, Ore. -- A 14-year-old skateboarder was being hailed as a hero after pulling a disabled woman to safety from a house fire Sunday night.

The boy was with a group walking by the home in Oak Grove when they noticed a house on fire.

Ryan Van Vactor, Annette Sansburn, and Bella Pointer were walking by when Bella spotted the smoke pouring out of Diana McIntosh's home. Seconds later, Van Vactor and Sansburn rushed inside and found McIntosh.

"She didn't look like she was in a hurry to get out so I picked her up off the counter, but she yelped a little bit, she said 'I have a broken pelvis,'" Ryan Van Vactor said.

Upstairs, McIntosh was watching a movie and did not realize the home was on fire, investigators said. She was also semi-immobilized due to a broken pelvis.

Firefighters said the teens called 9-1-1, then rang the doorbell, went inside and took the woman to the neighbors' home across the street.

A dog and two cats that escaped the home on their own were also saved. Clackamas fire crews were able to pout out the fire in minutes. Damage was estimated at $100,000 to the 1970 home.

"I wasn't even thinking in the house," Annette Sansburn said. "I just said she needs help out here, we need to do as much as we can."

"Those two kids were so great," added McIntosh. "They came right in and made sure to get my dog and get me out of the house with my walker and everything else."

The cause was under investigation. No one was hurt.