Fast blaze sparks quick action

A trip to downtown Kimball to run a few errands turned into a potential nightmare and a daring rescue for 92-year-old Helen Kuhlman of Kimball.

On Friday, Jan. 22, Kuhlman left her Park Terrace apartment for some personal errands and decided first to stop at the Kwik Stop to get gas in her 1993 Buick LeSabre. But, according to Kuhlman, her vehicle came to a stop just short of the gas pumps, made a loud "pop" noise and started fire.

She explained that a man then came to her vehicle and started hollering for her to "get out!" and "unlock it!" Another man, Garrett Pruett, 18, approached on the passenger side of her vehicle, knocked out the window with his fist, opened the door and pulled Kuhlman to safety.

"I was so confused," she said, "I didn't know what to do. My car has a lot of buttons."

Kuhlman believed that she wouldn't have been able to exit in time and said she was very grateful to Pruett, as her car went up in flames rather quickly.

City Administrator, Daniel Ortiz arrived at the scene shortly after he heard the call for the fire department go out over the scanner.

"I saw a group of guys, some with extinguishers trying to put out the flames," he said. "Dustin Schutz and Garrett Pruett, were two that I recognized. I grabbed a fire extinguisher from City Hall and ran over to help. By then, Mrs. Kuhlman was out of the vehicle and a safe distance away. The car was not engulfed in flames yet, and we did what we could to control the flames underneath the hood of the car."

Ortiz added that Fire Chief Wynne arrived and gave commands not to open the hood for fear of giving the flames more oxygen.

Flames engulfed the bottom of the car as the fire department arrived and prepared to extinguish the blaze,

A short time later the first fire engine arrived and as they prepared their equipment and hoses the flames engulfed the bottom of the car. When the second engine arrived shortly after, the fire department extinguished fire.

During the chaos Kuhlman quietly left the scene to attend an appointment down the street to have her hair fixed.

"When I was in having my hair fixed, the police came and asked me when I was born. They didn't ask to see my driver's license or anything," she said.

Kuhlman said she was grateful that after Mike Schadegg came and hauled the seared car to his lot her gardening tools, stored in the trunk of the car, were found safe and still usable.

"My son was here and took the gardening tools with him," she said.

When asked if he felt like a 'hero', Pruett stated "I'm not a hero, I was just there."