Guilford County, NC -- Two young Guilford County firefighters didn't have to wait long in their careers to experience a firefighter's scariest scenario.
Matt Patterson, two days out of training school, and Angie Martin, a firefighter only a year, were inside a burning house Thursday morning when the floor collapsed, sending them falling into a basement full of flames.
Instantly, a rare "Mayday'' signal went to county and city firefighters already at the scene and those rushing to the house on Presnell Way off Lee's Chapel Road. "Mayday" means a colleague is in distress.
Fortunately, Patterson and Martin were quickly rescued and suffered only minor burns.
A third firefighter, Lt. Jimmy Marley, who serves with Patterson and Martin at county Fire Station No. 13 on Lee's Chapel Road, was burned trying to help his two colleagues. But in the excitement, he didn't know until later that he was hurt.
The lone occupant of the small, brick house, Edward Foulks, 46, escaped uninjured from the fire that was reported about 9 a.m.
Marley, a nine-year veteran, Martin, Patterson and another firefighter had been in the house only a few moments when the area where Martin and Patterson were gave way. Marley looked down through the hole in the floor and, while he could see just one of the firefighters, he could hear both yelling for help through their air masks.
He and another firefighter, Mark Smith, tried to pull them back to the first floor.
"We could get to their fingers, but we couldn't reach far enough to grab hold of them,'' Marley said.
Fortunately, three of the many Greensboro firefighters who answered the call to assist county firefighters were already in another part of the basement.
Capt. Danny Edwards, Kyle Hobbs and Michael Karl, all from City Fire Station No. 1 on Church Street, thought they heard a noise somewhere in the basement, "but it was hard to tell because you couldn't see anything.''
When the Mayday signal came, which also alerts firefighters to back out of a dangerous situation, the trio retreated to the basement door, then reentered after hearing the trapped firefighters were nearby. Clutching the nozzle of the hose, Karl knocked down flames in their path until they found the trapped firefighters.
Both were standing in flames, which Karl extinguished with blasts from the powerful hose.
Edwards said Patterson and Martin appeared disoriented and had minor burns.
They were led to the basement door and into the back yard, where other firefighters placed them on the grass for initial treatment. Marley was helping his two comrades when he learned that he, too, was a casualty.
"I didn't know I was hurt until someone told me my neck was burned,'' he said.
Martin and Patterson were strapped onto gurneys, which firefighters carried up a hill to ambulances waiting on Presnell Way, a gravel road near the Lee's Chapel Road railroad overpass. Marley also went to the hospital. All three were treated and released.
Later, Martin returned and walked around the charred house. She declined to be interviewed. Alan Perdue, director of emergency management for the county, said Martin seemed fine and was not traumatized by the close call.
Patterson was asked later in the day if he was going to quit after two days on the job. His answer was an emphatic no.
No rookie mistakes were made, Marley said. He says both firefighters wore their equipment properly, which probably saved their lives. Their air masks stayed secure. Their fire-resistant outfits provided enough protection until rescuers arrived.
Perdue said the fire apparently started in the basement, but he's not sure how. Eric Randolph, who lives across the road, said he awoke and happened to look out the window to see smoke coming from the Foulks' house. He called 911.
Paul Foulks, the owner of the house and father of Edward Foulks, said he was on his tractor a block away when his wife rushed up to him screaming that their son's house was on fire and he might be inside.
As he hurried to the scene, "I was so scared my spine started hurting,'' Paul Foulks said.
He and his wife built the house more than 20 years ago for their only child. The parents said Edward Foulks worked for a tree company until he was injured in a fall a year ago.
Capt. Edwards said Martin and Patterson endured what firefighters fear most, falling through a floor and becoming disoriented.
"I've been disoriented before,'' Edwards, a 20-year veteran said, "but fortunately I've never gone through a floor. I can only image what they were going through.''
As for his team's role in the rescue, "We didn't do anything that someone else wouldn't have done,'' he said. "We just happen to be at the right place at the right time.''
