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del.icio.usACT WAS 'GREAT PERSONAL RISK'
Cop saves woman by fighting off fire, pit bull
BY ANNIE CALOVICH
The Wichita Eagle
A police officer is usually not the first responder at the scene of a fire, not usually the one to go in and rescue someone from a burning building.
But on Thursday morning, Wichita police Officer Victor Trillo pulled an elderly woman from a burning house in southwest Wichita -- and then received a tug on the pants by a defensive pit bull as thanks.
"It was crazy," Trillo said later in the day while recalling the rescue.
The officer was passing by on his way to his first police call of the day at about 7:30 a.m. Thursday when he saw fire spouting over the roof of a house near MacArthur and Gold streets in southeast Wichita.
Trillo called dispatch and found out that fire units were en route, then stopped his car and got out. He saw a woman and her two children outside the house, and asked whether anybody else was inside.
"My grandmother's still inside," the woman said, standing at the back kitchen door with a hose.
"I said, 'Oh no,' " Trillo said. He radioed the information and then went in the open back door.
"It was black smoke coming out of there as thick as can be, and I could see the smoke maybe started about 10 inches off the floor, and I kind of crawled in there," he said. "And halfway into the kitchen, I was able to see her feet. I grabbed her ankles and pulled her out into the grass."
As he got the woman outside, there was another problem.
"I felt something tugging on my pants, and it was a pit bull," Trillo said. "I thought that was all I need."
As thicker smoke started coming out, another officer arrived, and the two officers carried the woman farther from the house. She was in critical condition Thursday at Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Francis Campus.
The officer said the pit bull apparently belonged to the residents of the house, who let it and another pit bull out of the backyard when the fire broke out. He said the dogs nipped at the firefighters as they arrived as well, and another police officer held a gun on the dogs to make sure they didn't bite anybody.
"It was quite an ordeal," Trillo said.
The residents eventually corralled the dogs and took them to a relative's house, the officer said.
"I think the dog had ahold of my pant leg in defense of the grandmother, so I didn't fault the dog any," Trillo said.
Fire Chief Ron Blackwell hailed Trillo's actions, saying that the fire at 537 W. MacArthur was extensive and that the officer acted at great personal risk.
"They're not dispatched to fires," Blackwell said of police officers, "and in this case, with the size of the fire, he did an outstanding job."
The cause of the fire and a damage estimate was not known Thursday afternoon.
Trillo said he felt fine in the aftermath, though "later I checked my arms to see if the hair was still on there." The pit bull's bite put a small hole in his pants but didn't hurt him.
Trillo's main thought was for the woman he had rescued.
"I hope she pulls out of it OK."
Blackwell had one more thought.
"We can feel blessed to be living in a community where we have public safety officials like this officer," he said.
Reach Annie Calovich at 316-268-6596 or acalovich@wichitaeagle.com.
