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Ocala
Friday, March 29, 2024

Ocala Police officers lauded for saving resident from her burning home

Ocala Police officers are being credited with saving a woman from her burning residence.

Officers responded early Friday morning to a house fire on S.W. 7th Street that was believed to be arson. When they arrived, they observed the upper front of the structure to the right of the front door was on fire. One officer got a fire extinguisher and two others went to the back of the residence, where the resident was waiting for police to arrive, a report states.

Ocala fire
An Ocala Police officers battles a suspected arson fire at a residence on S.W. 7th Street early Friday morning.

The resident couldn’t get the door open and told officers she couldn’t breathe every well because smoke was filling the inside of the house. An officer then kicked in the back door and rescued the resident, the report says.

The resident told officers she had been lying in her bed when she heard a loud boom and went to the front door and saw that it was on fire. She then activated her emergency necklace and Ocala Police and Ocala Fire Rescue responded.

Ocala firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze. The resident, who had lived in the house for 30 years, was seen by EMS but didn’t want to go to the hospital. A fire arson investigator and other fire department personnel were called to the scene to investigate the incident. The blaze remains under investigation.