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Firefighters Save Man From Burning House

FORT WORTH, TX — The fire was fully involved when firefighters arrived about 1 a.m. Sunday.

Frantically, a neighbor told Lt. Craig Ladkin and firefighter Perry Moore that a man was inside the burning house.

Ladkin and Moore trusted their instincts and rushed to a window. After breaking it to get in, they encountered a flurry of flames.

“You trust your experience, your training and God,” Moore said. “There’s not a lot of time to think about it.”

The firefighters made it to the bedroom where they found Michael Hinshaw, unconscious but breathing, on his bed.

The bedroom was engulfed in flames and filled with smoke. “We had to get him out as quickly as possible,” Moore said.

They dragged Hinshaw to the window, where other firefighters helped lift him out. Firefighters monitored his condition until an ambulance arrived. Hinshaw was transported to Parkland Hospital in Dallas, where he remained in critical condition Tuesday.

Finding him alive was a blessing, Moore said. Hinshaw was alone in the house in the 3800 block of Honeysuckle Avenue.

“It made it worthwhile,” Moore said. “I said prayers for the family and the guy.”

The two rescuers were humble, saying they were simply doing what they had been trained to do.

“It’s all reaction,” Ladkin said. “You’re doing your job that’s in front of you. You’re performing your duty.”

Firefighters said that because of smoke detectors and fire safety awareness, situations like this are rare.

Ladkin, who has worked for the fire department for more than 20 years, said he has only been involved in about six rescues.

Damage estimates to Hinshaw’s home, valued at $103,500, were about $60,000, Lt. Kent Worley said.

Investigators said the fire was caused by an unintentional human error, said Capt. David Coble.

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