Firefighters from Marion County Fire Rescue are being praised by state Sen. Dennis Baxley for their efforts last month in saving a family pet from a burning Summerfield home.
Baxley wrote a letter to Fire Chief James Banta dated Jan. 30 that was included in the packet of information provided to Marion County commissioners during Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting. He offered thanks for the firefighters’ actions on Jan. 10 when they saved a family dog named Lucy while battling a structure fire at a Summerfield residence in the 2700 block of SE 162nd Place Rd. Multiple 911 callers had reported heavy flames and smoke coming from a residence and it wasn’t known if anyone was inside the structure.
Firefighter/paramedics from The Villages of Marion Station #10 arrived on scene at 2:25 p.m. and reported a working fire. The crew went into immediate rescue mode to complete a primary search of the structure. A district captain arrived a short time later, established command and directed arriving firefighters to assume their duties. Other firefighters from Villages of Marion Station #10 and their colleagues from Belleview Station #18, Shady Station #16 and Summerfield Station #30 also quickly arrived on scene.
Crews made an aggressive interior attack with three hoselines. During the primary search of the structure, firefighters Tristan Rora and Alexander Brocksmith were able to locate Lucy and rescue her from the burning structure. Crews continued to battle the heavy fire load within the home and were able to call the blaze under control a short time later. Other than Lucy, the home wasn’t occupied at the time of the fire and there were no injuries reported.