It has been four years, but the terrifying memories of August 13, 2006, are still clear to Jo Brinkley-Chaudoir. Jo was working as a firefighter/paramedic for the Green Bay Fire Department, when a call came into the station about a house fire. Her team was among the first to respond, and by the looks of the outside, the fire didn’t seem too bad.
“When we got there, we just saw a little wisp of gray smoke coming out the back of the house. We thought it was just a barbeque grill or something,” Jo recalls.
Jo and her 13-year partner in the department, Arnie Wolff, were instructed to enter the home to search for residents. As they entered, the home was filled with static smoke. Arnie was first in and told Jo which direction to go. They dropped to their knees and crawled only a few feet when the floor collapsed into a basement engulfed in flames.
Watch Jo's story.
NFPA’s Faces of Fire campaign is a tool to help people and groups across the country promote the use of automatic fire sprinklers in one- and two-family homes. By containing fires before they spread, home fire sprinklers protect lives and property. The personal stories told through the Faces of Fire campaign will show the experiences of those who escaped or lost loved ones in home fires and those whose lives and property were protected by home fire sprinklers.
- Mike Hazell
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