CAREGiver Tangela Saves Client in House Fire
Home Instead® CAREGiver℠ of the Month Tangela Stewart is a hero, Mount Airy Fire Chief Zane Poindexter said. On March 21, Tangela pulled her immobile 94-year-old client out of a house engulfed in heavy smoke and got her away from rapidly advancing flames caused by a kitchen fire that had started in a basement apartment below where the client lived.
There was a three-minute fire department response. Chief Poindexter, who arrived on the scene first because he lives nearby, said: “Tangela basically saved her client’s life. I am sure glad Tangela was there. She deserves the recognition. She went above and beyond the call of duty.”
The day began uneventfully for Tangela and her client. Two hours after Tangela started her scheduled 11-hour shift at 10 a.m., she detected the smell of smoke as she was making another cup of coffee for her client. Tangela hurriedly went to her client’s bedroom, got her out of bed, and placed the client in her wheelchair. “The smoke all of a sudden rolled in. I could not see the fire, but I could hear the crackling. I couldn’t see anything. It happened so fast.” They felt their way down a smoke-filled, pitch-dark hallway and halted briefly because of a locked front door.
Chief Poindexter recalled: “I had rushed to the house and didn’t put on any equipment. By the time Tangela got the door open, the basement renter had joined her and they moved the client into the doorway. Myself and a couple of firefighters took her to the lawn a good distance away. She was coughing a little. In addition to Tangela and her client, the client’s sister and the male renter also made it out. They confirmed quickly no one else was inside. Everyone was examined by the paramedics for possible smoke inhalation and other injuries. Tangela’s client was the only one to go to the hospital. There was severe property damage. With a house that old with all of the fire and smoke damage, it’s possibly a total loss.”
The Mount Airy News newspaper reported that 30 firefighters from the three departments responded with six pieces of apparatus. The paramedics also arrived quickly. Tangela said: “I was coughing when they checked me. They said, ‘Your blood pressure is high.’ I told them, ‘Well, it ought to be, but I also have high blood pressure.’ They wanted me to go to the hospital to get checked out.”
Home Instead franchise co-owner Van Lankford praised Tangela’s lifesaving actions. “The fire chief told our staff that Tangela did an amazing job. It was quite amazing and wonderful, in view of that fact that it could have been tragic. It was grace under pressure. As a Home Instead franchise, we’ve been assisting the client for several years, and it was quite something that it was Tangela’s first time with her.”
At the hospital, the client told Tangela: “I knew you’d get us out. I am glad you were here.”
Hearing the news from the Home Instead office staff, the client’s two regular CAREGivers, Frances and Darien, sprang into action. One also went to the hospital with the client, and the other went to the hotel where the client’s sister was taken. Tangela said: “Home Instead is a great group of people. They are sweet, exceptional and so kind. They go above and beyond for their clients and their CAREGivers.”
Recalling the aftermath, Tangela praised the firefighters and the client’s neighbors. “The firemen were wonderful – among other things, a fireman went in when the fire was out and retrieved our smoky but unburned purses. The neighbors were wonderful. Mary Anna across the street brought food over. Others brought chairs, blankets and a pillow. We set up on the lawn. Mount Airy is a great community, such helping and caring people.”
She added: “My adrenaline was going, and I did not sleep well. The next day, I had a smoke smell in my nose. I feel bad about the loss of the home but we were fortunate. The living room was burned, and the floor could have collapsed. The firemen said if the fire had reached the attic, the whole house would have fallen in.”
The client’s granddaughter came immediately, making the one-hour drive from Wilkesboro, North Carolina. “I waited until the granddaughter arrived. It was shocking for her. She had lost her mother — the client’s daughter — in December,” Tangela said. “The granddaughter was upset and said, ‘I could have lost my grandmother.’ She was crying and thanked me. The bottom line was that she was so glad no one was hurt.”
Chief Poindexter pointed out that neither Tangela nor her client were responsible for the fire, but he said the episode is a good safety reminder: “Kitchen fires are one of the top two reasons for a structural fire. Our saying is ‘Watch what you heat.’ We hope everyone will take that to heart.”
All Home Instead CAREGivers are screened, trained, bonded and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (336) 789-4472 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
