Firefighters protect resident from flames before helping them escape from basement

One person was injured Wednesday night in a west Wichita house fire, battalion chief Jose Ocadiz said.

Firefighters were called just before 9 p.m. to a home in the 700 block of North McComas, which is near West and Central. The fire started in the attached garage but had spread throughout the home. At one point, flames could be seen coming out of all the windows, Ocadiz said.

He said firefighters learned someone was trapped in the basement. Firefighters found the person and closed themselves and the person in a room while other firefighters knocked down the flames, including in the basement.

Firefighters were eventually able to free the person from the home. They were originally listed in critical condition, but that was changed to serious. They were taken to the burn unit at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis.

Ocadiz said the fire report didn’t say if the victim was a male or female, but an official at the scene told other media that the person was a disabled woman who suffered from smoke inhalation.

Ocadiz didn’t think the home is a total loss. American Red Cross is helping five adults and three children affected by the fire.