Woman rescued by D.C. firefighter dies two weeks after fire
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Version 0 of 1. A woman who earlier this month was rescued from a burning apartment building by a D.C. firefighter who took off his breathing mask and gave it to her has died at a hospice center in Virginia, according to her niece. Phyliss Terrell, 64, a great-grandmother who worked at the federal Office of Personnel Management, died Thursday, two weeks after a fire broke out in an apartment next to hers on the third floor in the 1700 block of Minnesota Avenue SE. [D.C. firefighter puts his breathing mask on woman trapped in fire] Terrell was leaning out her window when firefighters arrived at the scene about 4 p.m. on March 9. She told relatives she was about to jump when D.C. firefighter Danny Lovato, an 11-year veteran, pulled up in Truck 7, grabbed a ladder and threw it against the wall. Lovato climbed to nearly the top rung, but found it too dangerous to pull Terrell out. The 39-year-old firefighter pulled off his breathing mask and put it on Terrell’s face, sacrificing the air from the tank on his back. They stayed like that for several minutes, until other firefighters could reach the woman from the inside. A photo posted online by D.C. police showed Lovato’s torso on the ladder, his head engulfed in a cloud of toxic smoke. “He took a beating to protect that woman,” Ed Smith, president of the firefighters union, said at the time. Terrell and Lovato were rushed to MedStar Washington Hospital Center and were treated in rooms across the hall. They met a few days later. Terrell’s son-in-law, Robert Thornton, said in early March that “she can’t believe that he came up and got her. . . . If it wasn’t for that firefighter, my mother wouldn’t be here anymore.” Lovato suffered smoke inhalation and was released from the hospital after a few days. Terrell remained hospitalized in serious condition and doctors were initially optimistic she would recover. But her niece, Wanda Terrell, 54, said that she suffered a lung infection. Wanda Terrell also said her aunt had prior health problems and was using oxygen before the fire. She said her aunt was moved to a hospice about a week ago. Funeral plans had not been set as of Monday. Wanda Terrell said the family is grateful to Lovato and other firefighters and police officers who helped with the rescue “and gave her and us a few extra weeks.” D.C. fire officials have not commented on the suspected cause of the fire, but Terrell’s family said they were told by officials it was due to a faulty furnace in an apartment next to where Phyliss Terrell had lived. |