Witnesses respond to Green Valley Manor fire

Residents and witnesses quickly responded Friday to the fire at Green Valley Manor Apartments, 122 Manor Drive in Creston. There were no fatalities. Three suffered injuries and two were airlifted to a Des Moines hospital.

One woman and her dog were stuck on the second floor of her apartment. To save the dog, she threw it out the window.

“I tried to coach her into hanging from the window before she dropped, kind of a hang-drop method. So instead of just jumping from the window you hang with your arms stretched out and then you drop,” said Creston Fire Chief Todd Jackson, adding the fall did break her ankle. “I certainly didn’t wish for that, but it was a pretty good outcome given the circumstances.”

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Fire Chief Todd Jackson described the building as "heavily damaged" and said that insurance adjusters will have to determine its viability. (Jason O'Day)

Blake Fry-Schnormeier said he was working on a mural on West Townline Street with his family when his daughter noticed the large smoke clouds. After determining where the smoke was coming from, he ran to the apartments. After being there for several minutes and making sure his daughter hadn’t followed him, chaos ensued.

“At that time the wall blew. There was a large explosion. And luckily I was on the large wall side, not the side that blew. And that really shocked me. And so I started to run back away from the fire,” Schnormeier said. “I was met by Doctor Hopkins running toward me. And then at that moment, I realized I probably really needed to go and make sure everyone was OK.”

He said when they pulled a window off the building to get people out, it hit him in the face and knocked him backward. He recovered and knew about an older woman, Nancy Paxson, who was on the second floor but too afraid to jump out the window. He found another man nearby to help.

“I just grabbed him and I said, ‘This lady will not jump out of this window,’” Schnormeier said. “I got him right up there with me. And we convinced her to get her feet out and she dangled down. We were able to get under and she was able to drop down to us.”

Paxson’s daughter, Amie Jackson, said her mother was treated at the hospital and released. Nancy’s cat has been found and is doing okay.

“I would like to thank the two that got my mom out though, I really would,” Amie said.

Schnormeier said he was inspired by some of the Green Valley Manor residents who helped get others out of the building.

“I was really blown away by their dedication to help any of those people. They were determined. That was their family. They were going in no matter what,” he said. “It really motivated me to really step up.”

He said he and his wife Bailey saw an elderly woman who was covered in soot get taken out of the first floor of the building.

“I didn’t know if she was alive or not,” Schnormeier said. “So when I finally saw her arm go up, I was like, ‘That’s a huge relief.’”

Smoke could be seen from the intersections of North Pine Street and North Sumner Avenue. Apartments on the west side of the second story were engulfed in flames.

Creston Fire Chief Todd Jackson said the fire was likely caused by a woman smoking a cigarette too close to an oxygen tank, which led to an explosion.

“We’re not gonna be able to in there to work the fire scene and talk to the occupant of that apartment for a couple days. We won’t have a definite answer until then,” he said.

Creston was assisted by Afton, Lenox and Osceola fire departments. Union County Sheriff and Creston Police Department assisted with evacuations. “It was truly a group effort,” Jackson said.