Two people, David and Kathy Skinner, were in the home on Choctaw Street when the fire began, Roy Fair, Sallisaw assistant fire chief, said Thursday.
It was reported that the two were trapped in the home, but Kathy Skinner escaped uninjured. Sallisaw firefighters arrived and were able to rescue David Skinner, 60, who was transported to Sequoyah Memorial Hospital in Sallisaw, where he was then flown by Eagle Med helicopter of Tahlequah to Hillcrest Medical Center.
Sam Pinson, state fire marshal investigator, was called to investigate the blaze. The Red Cross was also called to aid the family.
Sallisaw Fire Captain Jarret Hetherington said Friday morning that a short in an extension cord started the fire. He said a window air conditioning unit was plugged into an extension cord, which ran underneath the couch in the living room. Overloaded, the extension cord shorted out and caught the couch on fire, he said.
Fair reported Thursday that there was about $25,000 in damage to the home. He said it took about 15 minutes to get the fire under control. No firefighters were injured in the blaze.
Barry Nicholson of Sallisaw said he and a co-worker, Roy Briggs, first saw the flames come out of a vent at the top of the house at about 3:30 p.m. while remodeling a home across the street. Nicholson said he called the police when he saw the flames.
Nicholson said he and Briggs tried to get in the front door of the home but couldn't get through the smoke. Nicholson said he and Briggs went to the back of the house and saw David Skinner trying to get out of the burning home through the glass carport door, but the door appeared to be blocked by weight-lifting equipment. During that time, Nicholson said they heard the women scream that she was OK and had made it out of the house.
"It spread so fast," Nicholson said. "We couldn't find a way in fast enough."
Nicholson said they tried to break the glass of the door to the carport, but were unable to because of the heat and smoke.
"Before I knew it, people were trying to help," he said.
Robert Sorrell, emergency medical technician (EMT) with Southwest Emergency Medical Service, was one of those trying to help. Sorrell said Thursday that he arrived at the scene not long after the call went out. He said when he first got there, firefighters hadn't rescued Skinner yet.
Sorrell said while the firefighters were trying to get the man out of the house, he tried to keep the man's wife calm.
"Once they did find him, we started working on him," Sorrell said.
Sorrell, who has been an EMT for a year and a half, said two firefighters were instrumental in helping him with the man. Sorrell said the firemen helped by performing CPR and helped with crowd control. Fair said Dwayne Burgess and Steve Jones were the two firefighters who got Skinner out of the house and helped give him CPR. Burgess said another firefighter, Will Davis, also helped give Skinner CPR.
"They were awesome," Sorrell said of the firefighters.
Fair said 15 firefighters fought the blaze.
"I was just worried about the family and the firefighters (who were) actually in the house," Sorrell, who is also a volunteer firefighter at Maple Volunteer Fire Department, said.
Sorrell said he would like to thank the fire department, emergency room staff, and Eagle Med.
"A lot of people worked really hard," Sorrell said.
