WOODBURN Seven people were injured when a Woodburn home caught fire Friday night, including a police officer who rescued several people inside.
Police said the fire started just before midnight, when several were sleeping inside. They said the occupants were not aware of the fire because there were no working smoke detectors inside.
Neighbors called 911 and pounded on the door to wake up the people inside, while they said flames were shooting out of the windows.
The homeowner, Ivan Usosaltseff, said that s when he woke up and yelled, Fire! Everyone out.
But firefighters said getting out was not easy for the people inside.
When they arrived there were two people outside, injured, said Woodburn Fire Chief Paul Iverson. There were two more, we found out later, that were injured also. And apparently we had three more people who went out the second story window on the back.
He said those three landed on the patio roof, which collapsed underneath them.
Five people went to the hospital, including a Woodburn police officer who suffered smoke inhalation after he and other officers ran inside to help. Two others were treated at the scene.
Thanks to the help from them, we were able to get everyone out, Iverson said. We re lucky we don t have six fatalities this morning.
Investigators said it was a sobering reminder for people to check their smoke detectors, and to replace those that are more than 10 years old.
