Update, Oct. 31: The fire is being investigated as an arson. Hopkinsville Fire Department’s arson investigator has responded, and Hopkinsville Police have collected evidence, according to HPD Officer Royale Marfil.
Previously:
HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – Hopkinsville Police Chief Jason Newby was almost to work Monday morning when he heard a dispatch call about a house fire. The house was near the Police Department, so he decided to stop there first.
“I figured I would just head on over there just to make sure that everybody had gotten out of the house,” Newby told Christian County Now.
That decision led him to save a young woman’s life.
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The police chief arrived in the 800 block of East Fourth Street to see heavy smoke coming out of the house. Some people standing nearby told him there was a young woman trapped inside.
“I went in the front door. The smoke was thick so I had to start low-crawling through the living room. When I got to the hallway I could see flames – I wasn’t able to get to her that way.”
Newby went back out of the house and went around to the side.
“There was an open window, and I could see her.” He asked her if she could crawl out, and she said she couldn’t. “I was able to reach in, grab her and get her pulled out of the house through the window.”
Hopkinsville Fire Department crews soon arrived to find dense smoke and fire inside the home.
The woman was transported to Jennie Stuart Health for monitoring smoke inhalation, and Newby said he’d check on her in the morning.
“I was just glad that I could get to her in time and that it turned out the way that it did,” he said.
Authorities believe the fire started in the hallway, and the cause is still under investigation.
Lee Erwin, Chris Smith and Daynnah Carmona contributed to this report.
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