LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- An off-duty firefighter rescued several people from a house fire in Louisville's Clifton neighborhood Thursday afternoon.
According to Maj. Bobby Cooper of the Louisville Fire Department, Capt. Kody Jones, a 17-year veteran of the department, went above and beyond the call of duty to save the lives of four people and keep a bad situation from becoming much worse.
Around 2 p.m., firefighters were called to a home in the 100 block of Stevenson Avenue, near the intersection of Mellwood Avenue and Frankfort Avenue.
Cooper said Jones was on his way in to work when he saw the blaze.
"He was just east of the Mellwood exit [of I-64] so [he] pulled off the Mellwood exit and located the fire," Cooper said. "He pulled up on the scene, saw that there were people already on the scene who were calling 911 to give information, so then he proceeded to make sure that everybody was out of the structure."
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer recognized Capt. Jones for his heroic actions during a news conference Friday afternoon.
The structure was unique in that it contained three different addresses: a woodworking shop, a metalworking shop and a home. Cooper said the fire appears to have originated in the woodworking shop on the west side of the building.
There were two adults and an infant in the home, according to Cooper, as well as a third adult in the woodworking shop. Cooper said Jones made sure all four of the occupants got out safely.
"Once they were out, he proceeded to call 911 as well, confirmed that he was a Louisville firefighter and provided additional important information for our crews as they were being dispatched and pulling up on scene -- he gave us some critical information," Cooper said. "As a 17-year captain, he's pretty knowledgeable on the fire ground and was able to help the fire trucks and the fire engines as they were pulling on the scene to establish good positioning to begin a fire attack."
Cooper said Jones was unable to go inside the home to battle the structure because his fire gear was at the fire station where he was headed, but he did remain on the scene to help the crews.
"He did a lot more work outside to help our crews quickly get in position and lay lines and begin a fire attack -- a fire that had grown pretty quickly due to the nature of it, and the way that it started and how it had spread," Cooper said. "Our crews on the scene, with the help of Capt. Jones, did a good job of not making a bad situation worse. They were able to confine the fire to that portion of the building."
It took crews about an hour to get the fire under control, according to Cooper. Cooper said investigators believe the fire started when something was left too close to a space heater.
He said it could have been much worse without Jones' help.
"All-in-all he did an awesome job, and then he left and reported for duty at the firehouse."
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