Wichita woman severely burned in May restaurant fire is released from hospital

One of two women who were severely burned in a Wichita restaurant’s kitchen more than two months ago has been released from the hospital.

The sisters — ages 51 and 57 — were taken to a hospital in critical condition after a May 11 fire at Rostizeria Los Reyes, 512 W. 21st St. The women had second- and third-degree burns covering their bodies, officials previously said.

Rosa Martinez Reyes, the other sister and a mother of seven, died June 8, family members said in a GoFundMe page. The restaurant has been closed since the fire, but the family plans to reopen it.

The two women were alone in the restaurant when the fire occurred and they might have been cleaning, officials have said. The fire appeared to have started near the stove and did not spread throughout the restaurant. But investigators were not able to talk to the women after the fire because they were unable to speak.

Fire investigators now plan to set up an interview with the survivor of the fire, Wichita Fire Department Capt. Jose Ocadiz said Monday. The cause remains unknown.

Wichita police Officer Alex Bieler had been on patrol at around 9 p.m. on that Friday night in May when he saw one of the women run out of the restaurant.

“I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do,” Bieler previously said. “I probably could have thought it through better, but I just ran up to her and started patting her down. I started on her head and it went out when I started patting down her head, so I just kept going.”

Once he put out the flames on the woman, she said her sister was still inside the restaurant. He used a baton to smash his way in through a glass door. He found the woman in the kitchen, but she had already extinguished the flames burning on her.

Bieler was treated for what he called “really, really minor (injuries).” But he said doctors told him he had second-degree burns.

“I want to thank the officer who helped my mom and aunt,” a family member of the women said in a Facebook post. “He is an angel sent from above. God placed this man in our mother’s and aunt path at the right time. I can’t imagine what could of been of them if he was not there.”

“I don’t really think coincidences or chances just happen,” Bieler said. “I would say maybe God put me at the right place at the right time. I’m glad that I was there.”

This story was originally published July 23, 2018 at 3:59 PM.