Firefighters, neighbor rescue four from fire. ‘God gave me the courage to go in.’

Firefighters and a Good Samaritan were able to rescue four people Saturday afternoon from a fire inside a three-story Kansas City apartment building.

When firefighters arrived at the building in the 3600 block of Walnut Street, there was heavy fire on the third floor. The fire broke out around 12:30 p.m.

“When we circled around to the courtyard, we found three people on a balcony,” said Deputy Chief Jimmy Walker, with Kansas City Fire Department. “They had fire coming out of the door behind them. Our crews laddered that and got them down before they were injured.”

One person was treated at the scene.

Crews contained the fire to one unit, with two others receiving smoke or water damage, Walker said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Before the three were rescued from the balcony, a civilian who ran to help was able to carry a woman to safety.

James Siebert lives near the apartment and was outside when he heard a man holler out: “Smoke. Fire.”

“I jumped up and ran over here,” Siebert said. “When I saw the lady screaming, saying there was someone in there, that’s when human nature took over.

“... When she did that, I didn’t even think, I just scaled that thing, went right up it, and did my best to get her out,” Siebert said. “I just felt her life depended on me.”

As he tried to get to the woman deep inside the apartment, heavy, rolling smoked kept him at bay. He said he tried a couple of times but then stopped to think, trying to figure out the best way to succeed.

Siebert said he quickly grabbed a futon pillow, put it over his head and got low. In an Army crawl, he followed the faint sounds of the woman.

“I couldn’t see her at all,” he said. “I just felt her fingers.”

Once Siebert got to her, he picked her up off the ground and put her over his shoulder. He said he tried to stay low, away from the heavy smoke, as he carried her out.

Firefighters, he said, told him she was going to be OK.

“God gave me the courage to go in there and get her out,” Siebert said. “No doubt in my mind that anybody else would have done the same thing.”