Columbus Police release bodycam footage showing how man was pulled from burning home

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX/WTTE) — We're seeing firsthand how police and firefighters rushed to help get a man out of a burning home in East Columbus. Columbus Police just released the body camera video and it shows how firefighters pulled 49-year old Anthony Rutledge out of his burning home located at 949 S. Hampton Road but it was too late. Rutledge died at the hospital, but his roommate and his chihuahua survived.

Firefighters said the fire started in the kitchen around 3:30 am on Wednesday, April 17th after a pan was left on the stove. It quickly spread throughout the home, killing one man, and the other barely escaped with his life.

Police officers were the first ones to arrive, and they rushed to save Rutledge. In the body cam video, you can see one officer use his baton to break a bedroom window and yell, “You in there?! Hey! Is anyone in there?!”

“The officers did what they could to try and see if there was anyone was inside but from the body cam video there was no safe way for the officers to enter the home,” said Sergeant Chantay Boxill with the Columbus Police Department.

Minutes later firefighters arrived, by that time black smoke and flames engulfed the entire home making it nearly impossible to see inside.

“We pretty much train to not to see anything,” said Columbus Fire Chief Steve Martin. “We have no idea the layout of your home, so we’re going to crawl around and do a methodical search."

Chief Martin said the second roommate that escaped was sleeping upstairs and had his door closed, which most likely saved his life.

“Before you go to bed close the door because smoke getting into your room. If the smoke alarm doesn’t work then that can be the difference between surviving and not surviving,” said Chief Martin.

Firefighters broke more windows to get inside and find the man unconscious. Rutledge's chihuahua was also inside, suffered burns, but survived. Unfortunately, his owner was pronounced dead at the hospital. Friday morning, we saw contractors go inside the burned home for the first time, to assess the damage.

Chief Martin said the most common fires across the country start in the kitchen, late at night.

So it's best to not cook that late when you're sleepy and have a working smoke detector. If you don't have one, the fire department will give you one and install it for free. All you have to do is call the Columbus Fire Department Smoke Alarm Hotline at (614) 724-0935.

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