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Mike Townshend, on the left, with his brother Doug at the hospital on Sunday afternoon.
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Doug and Kris Townshend were heading out Friday evening around 7:30 PM when Kris remarked that it seemed foggy outside. As the couple looked through the sliding glass door they quickly realized it wasn’t fog. Kris ran for the phone to call 911 and Doug, a 21-year veteran of the Alexandria Fire Department and a lieutenant with the Westmoreland VFD, ran to the neighbor’s home where flames were already venting from the kitchen.
It wasn’t just any neighbor’s home that was burning. The single-story house behind the Townshend’s home in Montross, Virginia, belongs to Doug’s brother Mike. Mike Townshend bought the home at auction two-years-ago and was slowly fixing it up.
Doug Townshend, 41, told STATter911.com that he knew his 49-year-old brother, who leaves well before dawn for work, was likely asleep. Getting to the sliding glass door on the back of his brother’s house, Doug yelled for Mike. Doug believes that likely woke his brother, who screamed back.
With the heavy smoke conditions and knowing his brother keeps a lot of tools and building material in that part of the home, Doug realized it wasn’t the best route to get to Mike.
Above is raw Helmet-Cam video from Westmoreland VFD FF William Taylor who was aboard the second engine to arrive at the fire Friday night.
He then went to the window of his brother’s bedroom. Doug used a sledge hammer he found outside the home to smash out the glass and yelled again to his brother. The window sits high enough that Doug couldn’t easily get in. With the heavy smoke conditions he then saw at the front door, Doug realized the bedroom window was the only chance to try and get to Mike.
Because of the proximity to a shed, a nearby ladder couldn’t be positioned, so Doug found a tub that gave him the height he needed and crawled through the window.
Doug said he yelled to his brother, “Come to my voice”. Mike kept yelling back “Where are you?” At this point Kris Townshend was outside the house screaming, “Oh my god”, because both her husband and brother-in-law were inside the burning home.
Doug figures Mike had gone out into the hallway when Doug first yelled to him from the back door. Unable to find each other, Doug said he had to “bail out” for some quick air.
Kris Townshend said Sunday evening that should knew the second time he went in, Doug would not be coming out without his brother. Doug Townshend said, “I was either going to find him or I was going to die in there with him”.
On the second try, the two men quickly found each other. Both then tumbled out the window. As he pulled Mike away from the house, Doug Townshend said they both were in tears.
That didn’t last long. As an EMS crew took care of Mike, Doug helped direct the incoming firefighters from Westmoreland VFD. Kris Townshend had already called 911 back to let the firefighters know everyone was safely out of the home.
Mike Townshend was taken to a Richmond hospital suffering severe smoke inhalation and second-degree burns to his hands. Doug said Mike also has “a nasty bump on his head where I landed on him” when they fell to the ground.
On Sunday, doctors at a Richmond hospital took Mike Townshend off a respirator and he is now breathing on his own and talking. According to Doug, Mike remembers little about the fire other than Doug’s voice calling to him.
Doug Townshend may be off work from Alexandria’s Engine 207 for a couple of shifts. Along with some scrapes and bruises, Doug Townshend needed stitches in his hand after being cut by glass.
At first, reluctant to talk about the experience, Doug was encouraged to do so by his fellow firefighters from Alexandria, including another of his five brothers, Lt. Dan Townshend.
Mike Townshend’s home was destroyed in the fire. Kris Townshend said that’s okay, “The home is insured, my brother-in-law isn’t”.
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