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Obituary- White, Grace M. 2

Blaze in Rossville injures woman, 93
By TIM HRENCHIR
Capital-Journal law enforcement writer
ROSSVILLE — A fire caused by careless smoking critically injured a 93-year-old woman in her downtown Rossville apartment Thursday afternoon.

Grace White of 434 1/2 Main in Rossville was rescued from the burning apartment by Rossville Fire Chief Bob Sieh, who entered the smoke-filled building and carried her out, officials said.

White was listed in critical condition late Thursday in the bum unit at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan.

The hospital would not say what White’s injuries were. Sieh said she
had burns and smoke inhalation.

White had been alone in her apartment when the fire began in a stuffed rocking chair, Sieh said. He said it was caused by careless smoking by White.

The fire caused an estimated $10,000 damage, burning the chair, carpeting, Venetian blinds and a lamp shade, Sieh said. Smoke also damaged the rear half of the apartment and might have damaged an adjoining business building.

The fire was first detected by Rossville Police Chief Herb Bishop, Sieh said. Bishop radioed the fire chief just before 3 p.m. and said he saw smoke and smelled what appeared to be wood burning in downtown Rossville.

Soon afterward, Bishop told Sieh over the radio that the smoke was coming from White’s ground-floor apartment.

Sieh said he drove to the scene and saw Bishop standing in front of the apartment’s open door as smoke billowed out.

“He (Bishop) tried to go in and get to her, but the smoke was so thick he couldn’t get in, and he went down to his knees.” Sieh said.

“I went past him,” he said. “I could see her sitting there on the couch, and I lifted her off and brought her out.”

Bishop then started to fight the blaze with a fire extinguisher, and he and bystanders administered first aid to White.

The woman was having trouble breathing when she was brought out of the apartment, Sieh said.

‘‘She really wasn’t conscious to verbal stimuli until we got her out and exposed her to fresh air,” he said. "Her level of consciousness improved as time went along.”

Sieh drove to the Shawnee County Fire District No. 3 station at Rossville and came back in an ambulance supplied to the department by the Medevac MidAmerica Ambulance Co., which took White to meet the Life Star air ambulance where it landed near Rossville High School.

Meanwhile, three firefighters from the district arrived with firefighting equipment and got the blaze under control in about five minutes.

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