LEAWOOD, Kan. — Investigators are sifting through the rubble at a house fire, after the homeowner suffered critical injuries and two firefighters were hurt. It happened Tuesday near 95th and Meadow in Leawood, Kan., and on Wednesday, the fire marshal spent time trying to determine the cause.
Neighbors have identified the homeowner as 53-year-old Diane Jakobe, a nurse. She’s in critical condition at the University of Kansas Hospital.
Firefighters pulled Jakobe from the burning home just after 6:30 p.m. They say they could hear the woman banging on something inside the home to alert them that she was there.
“Once they made entry, the smoke was almost to the floor level, pretty cheesy conditions,” said Deputy Chief Wayne Harder of the Leawood Fire Department. “As they went in they found the lady, as I understand it, 20 to 30 feet inside. They were unable to go back out the way they came just because of intense fire conditions. They had to go out the back.”
Two firefighters, one from Leawood and one from Consolidated Fire District Number 2, suffered injuries battling the blaze. They both suffered cuts to their arms and have been treated and released from the hospital.
Investigators say the fire appears to have been concentrated in a northeast bedroom of the home, and for a time the flames caused some nerve-racking moments for neighbors.
“The flames were coming out of the north side of the house,” said Marianne Leary, who lives across the street. “And it’s very close to a tree that then is very close to my mother’s house. So the firefighters were hosing down my mother’s house and particularly the roof, to keep it from spreading. We really appreciated that.”
Firefighters remained on scene all night to make sure it did not flare up again. Firefighters say it was a particularly hot and stubborn fire to extinguish, partly because firefighters had difficulty getting into some parts of the house.
Neighbors tell FOX 4 News that Jakobe had moved into the home to take care of her elderly mother. Her mom passed away several years ago and she continued to live in the house alone.