Noblesville father and son managed to escape their burning home at 437 James St. without injury in the early morning hours of Oct 31.
Chad Shaw, a wheelchair-bound resident, told firefighters he awoke shortly before 2:30 a.m. to the sound of the burning window blinds in his bedroom crashing to the ground. After discovering the fire, Shaw started yelling for his son, Zachery, to wake him up and alert him of the situation.
“Mr. Shaw had two entry ways into his bedroom. The entry way that his wheelchair fit through was blocked by the fire, so Mr. Shaw had to exit out the second access; however, his wheelchair did not fit through that exit. Therefore, Mr. Shaw stated he had to crawl out his second exit while his son went into the burning bedroom and grabbed his father’s wheelchair,” explained NFD Division Chief Rick Russell. “Both Mr. Shaw and his son exited out the back of the home, went into the garage, and got into their vehicle and activated the OnStar feature for help.”
When firefighters arrived, they found smoke and flames on the north side of the house. Within 20 minutes the fire was under control. Russell said the blaze was confined to the bedroom, but other rooms in the house sustained smoke damage.
“The fire has originated in the bedroom along a wall where numerous electronics, including a space heater was plugged into the electrical outlets along the bedroom wall,” he said.
Russell said the fire has caused approximately $60,000 damage to the structure and contents.
