Union City man jumps from roof to escape house fire
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UNION CITY, Tenn. — A Union City man is recovering at a Memphis hospital from injuries he sustained jumping from his roof to escape a fire. Fire officials said it started early Wednesday afternoon. Those who live near the house on West Florida Avenue said they’ll never forget what they saw Wednesday afternoon as their neighbor jumped from his burning home. “It was just completely one big ball of black smoke that you couldn’t see,” neighbor Gina Pride said. “When he was trying to come out the window, we have a ladder beside our house, but the guys from Vaughn Electric had one on their truck so they had it almost to the house to get him when he fell,” neighbor Michelle Snell said. Snell lives feet away and said her neighbor works the night shift and likely was sound asleep. She believes jumping through his window from his roof was his best chance at survival. “When he came out of it, bless his heart, he cut both arms, the artery in one arm,” Snell said. “But then he slipped on the pitch of the roof and came down hitting the side of the house, the window and then landing on his head.” Pride lives two houses down and said she was doing her dishes when the sound of sirens drew her outside. “I could smell the smoke,” Pride said. “The flames were very, very high. It was just all black hovering over the whole top of her house.” Neighbors said the smoke engulfed all of them. “It was solid black and hard to breathe,” Snell said. “Nobody that was around, I mean, everybody was coughing and gagging.” Firefighters said the man was the only one inside the home. They said the fire started in an upstairs bathroom, but the cause is still under investigation. They said it is not suspicious.
