Quick action by a Louisiana electric cooperative lineworker—including a daring rooftop battle with flames—helped save the burning home of a Church Point, Louisiana, couple and their dog from total destruction.
Journeyman Lineman Matthew Reed was driving home after his shift July 17 at Lafayette-based SLEMCO when he saw fire and smoke coming from one of the home’s two chimneys.
“After seeing the extent of it, I couldn’t just sit there and let it burn. I had to do something,” said Reed, an eight-year lineworker, husband and father of two.
When he arrived at the scene, Reed said, a SLEMCO member was accompanying the homeowners, Mary and Ron Oakley, out of the house. The couple had been inside their home watching TV when the member, Stephanie Stevens, banged on their outside gate.
“Your house is on fire!” Stevens said she told the couple.
Leaning into his first responder training as a volunteer firefighter and lineworker, Reed sprang into action. After asking if everyone was safe, he turned off the house’s power supply and then spotted an extension ladder and a nearby water hose.
“I didn’t see anything wrong structurally with the roof, and I figured I might have a chance at containing some of the fire,” he said. “I got the ladder and the hose and just got up there and started putting water on the flames.”
Standing just feet from the blazing chimney, Reed aimed the hose at the flames to extinguish the fire or at least slow its spread until help arrived. He felt the hot roof through his boots, a sign that the fire had already spread to the attic and was likely too big for a single fire hose.
“I was hoping the resulting smoke would create enough of a barrier that it would at least reduce or eliminate the oxygen feeding the larger fire in the attic,” Reed said.
When several local fire departments arrived about eight minutes later, Reed was still on the roof, keeping the blaze to a smolder. “I was still there and able to let them know, ‘Hey, this is out, but you’ve got a bigger problem in the attic.’”
The Oakleys told local TV reporters that lightning strikes caused the blaze and that despite checking twice, they found no evidence of fire before Stevens’ arrival. The house was saved with some damage, and the couple is expected to move back in later this month.
“Matt is a hero,” said Mary Oakley. “He saved our home, and we didn’t even know it was on fire. The fire chief told me that if it would have continued to burn, for even just five minutes more with no action taken, it would likely have completely burned down.”
Mary Laurent, the co-op’s communications coordinator, said skilled, decisive action like Reed’s proves that the co-op’s investment in training is invaluable.
“We train our field personnel to be first responders because emergencies don’t wait for business hours,” she said. “Matt showed that our lineworkers don’t just restore power, they help protect what matters most.”
Victoria A. Rocha is a staff writer for NRECA.