Florida Police Officers Rescue Residents from House Fire

Three officers from the Oakland Police Department (OPD) in Florida are being lauded for rescuing two residents from a house fire on Tuesday.

The two-story home on West Gulley Avenue was engulfed in flames when Lt. Angela Campbell arrived on the scene at approximately 8:30 a.m., the OPD said in a press release. Bystanders alerted her that residents were still inside the home, and Campbell noticed a woman in the window as smoke filled the residence.

Officer Rene Castro, equipped with a fire extinguisher, hastily moved the backside of the house, broke a window, and helped the woman escape the inferno, the OPD said. “Det. Shawn Dozier broke another window and, along with Lt. Campbell, physically pulled the male victim out of the window to safety,” the department continued.

“The motherly instinct, I guess,” Campbell told Bay News 9. “The human side, anybody would have done it if they had the capability of getting in there.”

Once Orange County Fire Rescue Department crews arrived, they sprung into action to douse the home’s flames, and the victims were conveyed to the Orlando Regional Medical Center for smoke inhalation treatment, the OPD said. The officers were medically cleared at the scene.

“Our officers’ heroism and commitment to the public we serve were on full display as the three officers, working as a team, saved the lives of two Oakland residents,” Police Chief John Peek said in the release. “As Chief of Police, I couldn’t be prouder.”

The OPD said the victims were fostering a number of cats, at least ten of which died. Campbell, Castro, and a neighbor secured one of the cats and hurried it to a veterinarian, and it is expected to survive.

The woman resident is a board member of a cat rescue group called Candy’s Cats, the organization’s head, Candy Sullivan, told WESH.

“She has a very big heart for cats, and her biggest concern right now is that any of them are okay,” Sullivan said.

She added that the resident takes on critical cases.

“She does the critical care foster babies, whenever we have medically needy cats, a leg amputation, an eye, she takes care of those for me,” Sullivan added.

Another volunteer for the rescue group, Brenda Weatherford, quickly rushed to the scene.

“Grabbed all those carriers and ran down here in hopes we’d be able to get some, but obviously the ones who had gotten out are in hiding, and we know some probably did not make it out,” Weatherford told WESH.

The OPD noted that the State Fire Marshall’s Office is investigating the fire’s cause.