Franklin officers rescue 82-year-old woman from house engulfed in flames

FRANKLIN, Ohio — Two Franklin police officers are being hailed as heroes after rescuing a woman from a house engulfed in flames.

Dashcam video shows the moment Officer Tiffany Mountjoy arrived at a house fire on Wilson Avenue Tuesday afternoon. She and 15-year police veteran Chris Keene knew with every passing second, the fire would grow stronger.

The two officers ran toward the house without protective gear before fire and EMS could arrive.

"Everything they did was crucial, and everything was a matter of timing," Franklin Police Lt. Brian Pacifico said. "As you saw, the front of the house, that was very quick how the fire built up from there."

Keene heard someone scream for help as he went around the side of the house. The 82-year-old woman living in the home was stuck near her window, leaning out as billowing smoke surrounds her.

Mountjoy held the window open as Keene took off his kevlar vest to rescue the woman.

"He leans to where his body is inside of the window, grabs her by the hips, throws her on the shoulders," Pacifico said. "Both officers turn around, and he said it's completely black — he can't see where he's going."

The two officers pulled the woman to safety as crews arrived on scene. She was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation, but is expected to be OK.

"Very proud," Pacifico said. "They were heroic. They were courageous — I believe that in the bottom of my heart. Will they say it? No. They won't. They'll say, 'I was doing my job.'"

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

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