Teens rescued from fire
Fire details
Address: 814 W. McKinley St.
Building: Two-story house built in 1890, divided into two apartments.
Value: A city database lists the property's 2007 assessed value as $81,000.
Damage estimate: $65,000 to structure, $30,000 to contents.
Owner: Greg Teets of Batavia, Ill. Janesville Property Management, 217 W. Milwaukee St., manages the property.
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Janesville firefighters attack the blaze from above and below at 814 McKinley St. on Thursday.
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Kendra Brandes, a resident of the first floor apartment in the building at 814 McKinley St., is comforted as firefighters extinguish the smoky fire that started in the building Thursday.
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Two teenagers were trapped on the deck behind the house at 814 McKinley and they were rescued by good Samaritans with a ladder on Thursday.
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A firefighter chops a hole in the roof at 814 McKinley St. in Janesville on Thursday.
JANESVILLE — Neighbors helped rescue two teens and a dog from a burning building in the city's Old Fourth Ward on Thursday.
Everyone in the two-apartment house at 814 McKinley St. got out OK. The only injury was to a firefighter, who suffered a non-life threatening injury and was taken to Mercy Hospital. Shift commander Craig Jones said he is not allowed to reveal the kind of injury.
But two families lost their homes and probably most of their possessions.
Firefighters were called at 10:34 a.m., but before they arrived, Bob McCarthy and Lynda Crandall of Body Shop Supply, 815 W. Court St., noticed the fire in the nearby house.
Crandall spotted Lindsey Dawson, 17, and Zachary Dawson, 14, on a second-floor deck
"Get out of there! There's a fire!" Crandall yelled.
But flames were blocking the inside stairwell, Lindsey said later.
Their mother, Colleen, and an older sibling were not home at the time.
Lindsey said Zachary had been asleep, and she was playing a video game when they heard a smoke detector. Janesville schools are on spring break.
Lindsey said the apartment got smoky, and she hoped the fire wouldn't spread.
"I was nervous, I guess, because I had never been in a fire," she said.
The teens fled to the deck, which at one time had stairs to the ground, but the stairs no longer exist.
Crandall and her boss, McCarthy, hauled a ladder from the business, two buildings away, to the deck.
Police arrived and helped with the rescue, including of the family's dog.
The rear deck qualifies under the city building code as a "rescue platform," and stairs to the platform are not required, said Kelly Lee, neighborhood development specialist for the city.
A rescue platform functions as the required second entrance for an upstairs apartment, Lee said. The theory is that residents fleeing a burning building should wait for rescue on the deck, Lee said.
The tenants of the lower apartment sat on the curb and stairs of a home across the street, watching as firefighters broke windows of their home to put out the fire.
Kendra Brandes said she woke to the yelling of, "fire, fire, fire!"
"I thought they were kidding," she said as she wandered among friends and family.
Two of her friends escaped with her, and Brandes ran to her mother's room to get her out, she said.
All five family members and three friends who were home in the lower apartment got out, but they didn't think their 8-week-old kittens made it out.
But cats apparently survived. A fire department report states that firefighters found one cat and seven kittens in the lower unit and gave them to the tenant.
Brandes' family moved into the home in October. It was the second fire they survived after having a fire at a previous home on Court Street years ago.
Also watching the firefighters work in the sometimes thick smoke were the Dawsons. The mother, Colleen, had arrived.
Asked what was being damaged inside the house, Colleen responded: "Everything I own. I have no insurance."
The South Central Wisconsin Chapter of the American Red Cross put both families up at a motel and arranged for food and clothing, Executive Director David Diestler said.
Also helping the families with basic needs was a local group, Love in the Name of Christ, Diestler said.
Officials had not determined the cause of the fire this morning but had no reason to think it is suspicious, Janesville police detective Mark Johnson said. Authorities have ruled out arson but have not ruled out negligent handling of burning materials as a possible cause, he said.
He planned to meet with the insurance investigator today to continue the investigation, he said.
Reporter Gina Duwe contributed to this story
Apr 13, 2009 at 7:43 p.m.
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Yes, it would be a nice, perfect world if everyone had the insurance (renters, auto, etc.) that they needed to be responsible for themselves and the potential liability for the property of others.
Apr 13, 2009 at 12:10 p.m.
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my renters insurance is $230/year but I have it to insure for $100,000 dollars and most people do not need that much. Definitely something that every renter should have!
Apr 13, 2009 at 10:49 a.m.
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for those who are complaning, just shut up, u whern't there that had to of be scary for them they had lost every thing so if u tell them not to go to salvation army or goodwill why don't you buy them some of the thing they need!
Apr 12, 2009 at 7:35 p.m.
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That deck looks like it has one or two legs on it for support, I see no crossmembers or anything else. Yes, I am aware that it is probably lagged to the house. This is inadequate to hold this structure up. Don't you all have any building or code inspectors up there?
Apr 12, 2009 at 5:39 p.m.
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for all those that would like to help this family please contact pastor ken at new life assembly of god/prime time ministries
Apr 12, 2009 at 11:10 a.m.
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It simply comes down to priorities and being responsible. Without insurance, you become a burden to society. I'm sick and tired of reading what my tax dollars are paying for. If your own belongings don't mean enough to you, fine... but don't you DARE go to the salvation army or goodwill... you could have prevented the situation in the first place.
Accountability!
Apr 11, 2009 at 11:59 a.m.
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Even though this is a tragedy, isn't it time for people to be more responsible? Come on, renters insurance is very cheap and could be very beneficial. It says one of the kids was playing video games. Well, most of these game systems cost more than 3-4 years of the cost of insurance. I get sick of hearing how people cannot afford anything. Especially when they say it as they are puffing on a cigarette with a beer in their hand.
Apr 11, 2009 at 12:35 a.m.
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Give up a pack of cigs or a 6 pack of beer for the week... Come on. I've been down that road of shame of low income..... But, you do what you have to do. It's called Responsibility. Some people have never paid for any type of insurance before and never will .... Ask them if they Smoke? .. That's a big expense!!!!!
Apr 10, 2009 at 6:33 p.m.
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when you are walking down the road or driving down the road please think about not just going and throwing your lighters that you think are empty down on the ground or out the window you just never know what a little kid might be able to do with it.
Apr 10, 2009 at 3:56 p.m.
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enigma... you can purchase renters insurance thru the same place you would purchase car insurance.
Apr 10, 2009 at 3:48 p.m.
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This may sound like a silly question, but where can one go to inquire about getting renter's insurance?
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Nearly any insurance agency.
Apr 10, 2009 at 3:37 p.m.
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This may sound like a silly question, but where can one go to inquire about getting renter's insurance?
Apr 10, 2009 at 3:15 p.m.
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I have renters insurance and for $45,000 worth of coverage I pay 16.59 a month. It is cheap piece of mind for me, knowing I could at leat afford to start over god forbid anything should ever happen.
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Please everyone who rents check it out, for about .55 cents a day you can afford insurance. Your rate may even be lower depending on the amount of coverage you select.
Apr 10, 2009 at 2:18 p.m.
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Actually, there's precedent in flood insurance pools. Renter's insurance would be much cheaper if more people participated, and a state-run pool solicited directly at time of rental to all tenants, even with fully voluntary participation, would probably be even less expensive than current market premiums. The taxpayer investment would be in the form of bonds and accrue back to the general fund (to vastly oversimplify). I doubt this will ever be a high legislative priority, though. It would be interesting if a major city such as Chicago tried it as an experiment.
Apr 10, 2009 at 1:48 p.m.
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does anyone know the size of the kids and where to drop off clothes?
Apr 10, 2009 at 1:22 p.m.
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shopiere: don't you get it, everyone is getting used to it. They say if you don't have it, take it from everyone, that way it only costs everyone a little so you can keep on going. (e.g. AIG, GM, etc.)
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These bailouts and the precedent it has started could be the downfall of America as we once knew it. Now we will just borrow from all taxpayers or future taxpayers to keep living the way we want to right now. We need market correction both personally and as a country. Hope people start to wake up soon, otherwise this could get really bad in a couple of years. You won't be able to afford anything due to taxes.
Apr 10, 2009 at 1 p.m.
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"Authorities have ruled out arson but have not ruled out negligent handling of burning materials as a possible cause, he said."
Often the translation of this is careless smoking or carelessly leaving matches or lighters use for smoking laying around so that kids plays with them and start the dwelling on fire.
Yet, someone on this thread is proposing that the taxpayers pay for renters insurance, something that costs little more per month than a pack of cigarettes. Man o man what has happened to this country?
Apr 10, 2009 at 12:49 p.m.
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Yeah wouldn't it be nice if car insurance and medical insurance would be that cheap.
Apr 10, 2009 at 12:26 p.m.
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The sad part is, nobody ever thinks that something like that will happen to them, be it renters, auto, or health insurance. At least renter's insurance is much more affordable than the others.. from what others are posting, around $2/week.. less than the cost of a bag of chips or the cigarettes that generally cause the fires in the first place.
Apr 10, 2009 at 12:16 p.m.
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Wouldn't it be nice if Landlords just included it in the rent, and charged 5 or 10 dollars more a month for it
Apr 10, 2009 at 11:54 a.m.
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My renter's insurance is $8.41/month.
Apr 10, 2009 at 10:28 a.m.
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If you're poor, $120 a year can be an impossible sum. I wonder if the city could set up a fund for such people, maybe using Community Development Block Grant money
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you can pay it monthly, and for the little bit it costs, if you are poor it will cost a lot more to get everything back.
Apr 10, 2009 at 10:24 a.m.
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My renters insurance is less than $100 per year.
Apr 10, 2009 at 10:24 a.m.
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If you're poor, $120 a year can be an impossible sum. I wonder if the city could set up a fund for such people, maybe using Community Development Block Grant money?
Apr 10, 2009 at 10:05 a.m.
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yeah the renters insurance is cheap, i think it was either 8 or 12 a month when i had it, i can't remember exactly i just remember it was cheap and when you think about what it will cover it is well worth the phone call to get it.
Apr 10, 2009 at 9:54 a.m.
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it is refreshing to read a hero story for a change. i am glad everyone is safe and this has a least a happy ending that noone is seriously injured.
Apr 10, 2009 at 9:53 a.m.
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What a relief to learn everyone escaped the fire, including the pets.
Please, please....those of you who rent....look into renter's insurance! It's not that expensive - especially compared to replacing what you've lost. So many house fires recently, and many of the tenants did not have renter's insurance.
Again, so thankful everyone is okay and the fireman is doing well.
Apr 10, 2009 at 9:47 a.m.
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I am so happy to read that all got out safely- even the baby kittens! Great job, neighbors!
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