ALOHA, Ore. — An 88-year-old woman called 911 late Wednesday night to report a fire inside her Aloha home. She connected with dispatcher Tiffany Myers.
"Right off the bat she said she wouldn't be able to get out, so that gets you in the mode like, 'we need to find a way to get out,'" Myers said.
Myers put out a call for help over the radio. Washington County Sheriff's Deputy Joshua Friant heard the plea for assistance.
"One of the first things they said was someone is in the house and can't get out," Deputy Friant said. "That sets off alarm bells in your mind and you go to work."
As Deputy Friant raced to the scene, Myers had another problem on her hands. The 911 call kept dropping out.
"I don't know if she was nervous and would hang up thinking we were done talking or it was the service going down," Myers said.
Myers was relentless. She called the woman back repeatedly.
Deputy Friant eventually arrived at the house and opened the front door.
"As soon as I opened the door, smoke started pouring out of it," Friant said.
Deputy Friant said he could see no more than two feet in front of him. He got on his hands and knees and crawled toward the woman.
"I told her, 'you're probably not going to like it but we're getting you out of here," he said. "I grabbed her by the wrist and lowered her down as best I could without flopping her on the ground and hurting her. I didn't want to do that. I was backing up, bringing her out of the house."
One they were out, Deputy Friant passed the woman off to the first responders waiting outside, who took over her care.
"I think although this is a big event, I don't think it's an uncommon event for officers like me, deputies to take action and do our job," Friant said. "This is what we're here for. We're here to help. That's our goal."
It is also the goal of Tiffany Myers.
"I'm very blessed to work with some amazing people," Myers said.
The woman rescued from the home spent the night in the hospital. She was released Thursday and should be okay.