FIREFIGHTERS AND NEIGHBORS SAVE WOMAN’S HOME OF 23 YEARS FROM BIG PINE KEY BRUSH FIRE

BIG PINE KEY, FL – Juanita Kretschmar and her housemate George Adams were at their home on 19th Street on Big Pine Key on Sunday afternoon when they head banging on the door.

“It was the police who said I would be trapped by the fire soon if I didn’t get out,” Kretschmar recalled Sunday evening. “I grabbed a couple of things and my Bible.”

She also loaded her bird named BRD and dogs Napoleon and Waterloo into her car and evacuated.  The fire reached her porch but thanks to a neighbor with a garden hose and a Key West Fire Department crew that was assigned to the area by Incident Command, Kretschmar’s home of 23 years was spared.

“They did it; they saved my home,” she said. “God bless them.”

Seven months earlier her home survived Hurricane Irma. A small part of her roof was blown off that she had repaired.

Kretschmar was able to go back to her home late Sunday evening, but it was too smoky to stay. “I’m just so thankful it’s still here,” she said.

The Key West Fire Department was one of several local departments to respond on Sunday. The response included at least 60 firefighters from several agencies as far as Miami-Dade County.

“Unfortunately, we did lose one home, but through the incredible hard work of the men and women firefighters we were able to save several homes and nobody was injured,” said Monroe County Emergency Management Director Martin Senterfitt, who led Incident Command. “Some firefighters worked through the night without rest and continue to work today.”

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