MORGAN HILL
– Two police officers saved a woman’s life in a house fire in
downtown Morgan Hill Wednesday evening. All three suffered from
smoke inhalation.
MORGAN HILL – Two police officers saved a woman’s life in a house fire in downtown Morgan Hill Wednesday evening. All three suffered from smoke inhalation.
“Those police officers did a very dangerous and brave thing,” said Capt. Dennis Johnsen, the Santa Clara County Fire Department’s arson and bomb investigator, who was on the scene investigating until midnight. “The smoke was down to 2 feet above the floor; they definitely saved her life.”
Officers Gary Smith and Erin McNish were taken to Saint Louise Regional Hospital, treated and released, according to MHPD Sgt. Dave Myers. Both officers were commended on Thursday for pulling a woman from the fire.
“They appear to be fine,” Myers said Thursday. Both officers were on regularly scheduled days off Thursday and Friday.
Criminal charges are pending against the woman, who, police said, will be charged with setting the fire. Odessa Taboada, 34, of 115-A Warren Ave., was also treated, but booked into a psychiatric holding cell at Valley Medical Center, waiting charges of arson, assault with a deadly weapon and spousal abuse to be filed, Myers said.
Police were on the scene, having been called to the house earlier because of a domestic disturbance. Officers were interviewing a man who said his girlfriend, Taboada, had broken glassware and tried to cut him with a knife. While the man was being interviewed outside the house, Taboada set fire to the couch. The man, Myers said, was not hurt in the altercation.
The fire was reported at 6:43 p.m.
Santa Clara County Fire Department Capt. Gregg Berryman said his Dunne/Hill engine unit was at Butterfield Boulevard and Main Avenue when they got the call. Warren Avenue is located west from Del Monte Avenue between West First and West Second streets.
Berryman said two people lived in duplex A, a man and Taboada, who was carried from the burning house by police and cared for by paramedics until she could be taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Three people lived in the next door duplex, Berryman said. They were uninjured. He said he had called the Red Cross 10 times trying to find overnight accommodations for the residents of duplex B but, as of 8:30 p.m., no one had answered the phone.
The fire, he said, was brought under control by 7:20 p.m. and the “all-clear” was sounded at 7:42 p.m.
The estimated fire-loss damage to duplex A was $70,000 and $20,000 to its contents. Any losses to duplex B were unknown Thursday morning.
Smith and McNish were commended in writing Thursday for rescuing Taboada, according to MHPD Lt. Joe Sampson.
“This was a great, heroic action,” Sampson said. “They kicked the door in, found her unconscious and lying only a few feet from the flames. They pulled her outside to safety before firefighters arrived. This is an excellent show of courage in the line of duty.”
