Seconds From Tragedy: Chief Saves Family
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The Mangrum family lost everything in a fire that destroyed their home near the Sylva Rena community early Saturday. Flames consumed the house in minutes, but all four family members made it out safely.
WATER VALLEY — Police Chief Jason Mangrum reported that the fire that destroyed his family’s home early Saturday morning moved so fast that from the first crackle to escape was “only a couple of minutes — on the long side.”
“Jason saved me and the kids,” his wife, Trista Mangrum, added. “I’m bruised and beat up, but he saved us.”
The couple had only been asleep for a couple of hours after coming home from the football game to their residence on County Road 225. Trista woke first, and then Jason.
“I knew that crackling sound,” the chief said. “I saw just a little white smoke.”
Jason immediately ran to wake the two kids and get them out the front door. When he turned back to reach Trista, the hallway was engulfed. “I ran into a wall of smoke and fire that wasn’t there a minute earlier,” he said.
Trista had stepped into the doorway to follow him when “the door and the ceiling collapsed. It wasn’t anything but fire, and I was trapped.”
Jason got the kids into the yard, then sprinted around the house to their bedroom window. The room had a window A/C unit and he ripped the unit out and shouted to Trista.
Inside, she had dropped to the floor where there was a thin ribbon of air near the carpet. “I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t see,” she said. “He jerked the window unit out and started screaming for me. I jumped and just lunged out the window.”
Jason caught her and yanked her through, leaving deep bruises on her arm from his grip.
“The thickness of the black smoke and the heat, I was in an inferno,” Trista said about the crucial moments in the bedroom. “I thought I was on fire. It was that intense. And by the time he got me outside and I stood up, our entire bedroom was engulfed in fire,” she said.
They used the keypad to unlock his patrol truck, allowing it to be pulling away from the carport as Trista’s car burned. Her keys were inside the home. The four family members then watched the fire walk across the house as Jason communicated updates to first responders. As police chief, Jason has responded to countless fires and ranked the heat among the “top five” he has ever felt at a structure fire. The first part of the home dated to 1938; and he had lived there since 2006.
They escaped with only the clothes on their backs. Trista’s daughter, who keeps her phone under her pillow, had the presence of mind to grab it on the way out. Everything else is gone. “We didn’t recover anything,” Jason said. “If there’s anything salvageable, it’ll be minimal.”
Trista was treated at the emergency room for cuts from the window and smoke inhalation along with bruises.
The Mangrums have secured a place to stay through the end of the month. “Past that we’re feeling out everything with insurance,” Jason said.
They believe the fire started at an electrical outlet on the porch, which was on the outside of the bedroom wall where they were sleeping. The smoke alarms began sounding after they were already awake and moving. “Smoke detectors are critical, but have more than you think you need — and have multiple planned exits,” Jason stressed. “Seconds matter.”
They also faced an unexpected challenge in the hours after the fire: modern technology.
“With our phones and laptop gone, we couldn’t log in to our bank, car insurance or school accounts,” Jason explained. “We couldn’t prove who we were. That was one of the biggest hurdles in the first 48 hours.”
The problem, he said, was two-step authentication, the security system that now requires a code texted to your phone or sent through an app before you can access most online accounts. “When every device that authenticates your log-in attempt is destroyed, you’re locked out of everything,” Jason said. “We couldn’t even file an insurance claim online because we couldn’t get the text message or code to prove it was us.”
He now recommends keeping a small cash reserve somewhere away from home. “We walked out at 1 a.m. with nothing — no money for a hotel,” he said.
Five departments responded to the fire. The chief said he hasn’t been able to thank every firefighter in person. “I hope nobody ever has to go through it,” he said. “I don’t wish it on anybody.”
Through the loss, the Mangrums say Water Valley has shown up for them. “The community has overwhelmingly come out,” Jason said. “The generosity has been amazing — honestly, statewide.” Trista added, “There’s no way to thank everybody.”
Looking back on the seconds that mattered, the chief said training took over: get people out, clear the way for firefighters, communicate the scene. “I really thought she was right behind me,” he said as he sprinted down the hall to get to the kids out.
