ESTILL SPRINGS, Tenn. (WTVF) — A home engulfed in flames with smoke everywhere. Somehow, a young child manages to escape, but his great-grandmother is trapped and called 911.
First responders were en route to the fire, which quickly spread through the home in Estill Springs this past Friday.
Inside, Joanne Armstrong, 76, helped her 10-year-old great-grandson to get out before falling to the floor in her bedroom.
She called 911 to say she was trapped:
"You do see flames correct?"
"Oh, honey. It's got the whole bedroom on fire."
Bodycam video showed first responders on the scene. The blaze rapidly spread, filling the home with smoke and flames as Armstrong pleaded for help.
"Oh God, I can't get up and can't breathe. Hurry up."
"All right, Joanne, they are coming. OK, just stay on the ground. Stay low as you can."
"Oh, it is so hot, so hot.
"Help, help, help."
Firefighters heard Armstrong's cries just moments before she passed out.
Despite the intense heat and smoke, four men went into the burning home.
"They said zero visibility. They were feeling their way around to find her," said Joanne's daughter Shari Jones.
When they did find her, firefighters hoised the unconscious woman out a window using a ladder.
At that point, police and paramedics rushed Armstrong — who suffered third-degree burns over her body — to the hospital.
Jones said they all braved the fire to save her mother's life.
"They knew she was in there, and they went in anyway, and risked their own lives. I can't thank them enough for saving her and getting her out of that house.
The family and Joanne both hope she heals so she can leave the hospital and then thank the first responders herself.
Joanne Armstrong remains in critical condition.
The rescue effort was a tremendous team effort, with firefighters from Estill Springs, Capitol Hill, Decherd, Winchester, and Franklin County working the blaze along with Estill Springs police and Franklin County sheriff's deputies.
Also, emergency dispatch and paramedics.
The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at nick.beres@newschannel5.com
Fundraising efforts are underway in Brownsville and Nutbush, TN to build a statue for a major superstar who was raised there, Anna Mae Bullock. You probably know her by her stage name, Tina Turner. I was a huge fan of Tina and glad to see efforts are underway to showcase more of her ties to West Tennessee.
-Lelan Statom
