COLUMBIA, Tenn. (WTVF) — Columbia police have released bodycam video showing a police officer running into a burning home to rescue a disabled woman.
The call came in Friday morning at a home on Rinks Circle in Columbia. Fire crews tell us there were oxygen tanks inside the home that began exploding, which is why the fire spread so quickly.
The woman's parents were able to get out of the home before the blast but their disabled daughter was still inside. A neighbor rushed to the burning home and said she could see 37-year-old April Chumley was lying near the front door.
Chumley can't walk and is non-communicative. The neighbor and the father tried to get Chumley out.
"He finally let go of his walker and crawled to the front door and I saw a blanket with someone's hands and then I reached for the blanket and boom that's when the first explosion happened," the neighbor said, "and the cop finally comes and goes get away from the house."
Corporal Allan Ervin ran into the burning home and got the woman out. She was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she remains in critical condition for burns and smoke inhalation. Ervin was not hurt.
We're told the parents were taken to the hospital but have since been released. Chumley remains at Vanderbilt in critical but stable condition for burns and smoke inhalation.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Police released video of Ervin’s bodycam, showing him running inside the home. However, police said due to the graphic nature of the video, it does not show the actual rescue.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
