CRAWFORD — The heroic efforts of a Crawford man saved the life of his wife Tuesday morning.
The mobile home belonging to Henry and Betty Sharp caught fire just after 8:30 yesterday morning with two women trapped inside.
“I woke up and I thought, ‘They’ve got that (wood-burning) stove burning already and it’s going to be hot today,'” said Christina Smith, who was living in a back bedroom of the house. Smith is engaged to Betty Sharp’s son. “Then I was confused because it was real foggy. So I went to open the door and it was too hot.”
It was then that Smith realized the mobile home was on fire. She escaped by breaking a bedroom window, suffering a bad cut in the process.
Smith called 911 and the District 4 Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene.
Volunteer firefighter Tameka Davis lives three houses down from the 282 Hotel Street home and arrived within minutes.
“It was fully engulfed,” Davis said.
Smith said while she was waiting on the fire department to arrive, she tried to go back into the house to see if Betty Sharp was still inside.
“I kicked the doors but I couldn’t get back in,” she said.
Henry Sharp arrived as the fire department was reaching the scene. He told the firefighters that his wife was still inside the burning structure.
He instantly went to the front bedroom of the home, broke the window with his hand and climbed into the smoke-filled home, searching for his wife.
“I went in the bedroom and I couldn’t see so I felt around on the bed for her,” Sharp said, “She wasn’t there, so I got down and felt under the bed. She was under there hiding and I said, ‘Come on out, baby,’ and I picked her up and we got out.”
Smith said Betty Sharp was taken by ambulance to West Point and then airlifted to Memphis, where she was being treated for smoke inhalation.
The Sharps’ home was a total loss but both Smith and Henry Sharp were comforted by their neighbors on scene.
“I’ll be all right,” Smith said. “Ain’t nothing but family out here. We’re going to be taken care of.”
Standing in the still smoking rubble of what used to be his home, Henry Sharp was just thankful his wife was alive.
“I’m all right if she’s all right. All that matters is that she’s all right.”
Sarah Fowler covered crime, education and community related events for The Dispatch.
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