VALLEY CITY, N.D. (AP) – Portable heaters are being blamed for a Valley City house fire that led to a close call for a mother and two children and injured a firefighter.

Fire Chief Gary Retterath says two portable heaters were placed too close to a bed in the home’s basement, igniting the Jan. 28, 2014 blaze.

Linda Schonert and her children escaped the burning house by jumping from a second-floor bedroom window. They suffered scratches on their legs when they hit a porch roof and then fell to the ground.

One firefighter suffered smoke inhalation as he was turning off the natural gas connection to the house.

The home was destroyed.

 

Reported previousley

VALLEY CITY, N.D. (AP) – Valley City Fire Chief Gary Retterath says a mother and two children escaped a house fire by jumping from a second-floor bedroom window.

The fire on Tuesday (Jan 28, 2014) at 545 4th Avenue Southwest, destroyed the home.

The  three suffered scratches on their legs when they hit a porch roof and then fell to the ground Tuesday.

Retterath says one firefighter suffered smoke inhalation as he was turning off the natural gas connection to the house.

The home was destroyed. The American Red Cross is helping the family.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.