Man seriously hurt trying to rescue wife in Dallas house fire, officials say
A man in his 70s is in critical condition after trying to rescue his wife from a fire in their Dallas home on Monday afternoon, officials said.
Just before noon, Dallas Fire-Rescue crews were called to the 1200 block of Whispering Trail, where a mailman had called 911 to report a house fire.
Firefighters saw smoke and fire coming from the home when they arrived, and the mailman told them that people were still inside.
Crews were able to put out the fire and rescued a woman in her 70s from a bedroom near the front of the house, Dallas Fire-Rescue said. Firefighters also pulled the woman's unresponsive husband from inside the house. Dallas Fire-Rescue said the fire began in the back of the home, and the husband went back inside to try to rescue his wife when he was overcome by smoke.
Dallas Fire-Rescue said that paramedics performed life-saving measures on the man while en route to the hospital.
"Due to the victim's critical state upon arrival, information was prematurely released indicating he had succumbed to his injuries," Dallas Fire-Rescue said in a statement. "Due to the critical work by DFR paramedics, in collaboration with the emergency medical staff, the man's vitals were able to be restored and he remains hospitalized in critical condition."
The cause of the fire is still undetermined and under investigation.
**Editor's Note: A previous version of this story indicated that the man had died in the fire. CBS Texas received that information from Dallas Fire-Rescue. However, the man's family told our reporter at the scene that he did not die in the fire.
"While we regret the initial inaccurate report, we are immensely proud of our firefighters and paramedics for their heroic actions, as well as our hospital partners whose life-saving interventions have given this resident a fighting chance," Dallas Fire-Rescue said in a statement.