A silent intruder nearly kills a York couple and their dog; firefighters rescue them

A quiet intruder started to creep up the stairs of Lisa Horn’s house before an alarm went off.

It was a smoke alarm, warning Horn and her boyfriend that a fire had begun to swallow the first floor of the house, on Roosevelt Avenue in York. By the time Horn opened the door to her second-floor bedroom, she could see the flames, heading toward them.  

She called 9-1-1, stuffed a blanket under the door to keep out the smoke, and told her boyfriend they may have to jump out the window.

This was the story her family got later, after she’d been taken to a hospital in Allentown, after she had a breathing tube inserted in her trachea, and after her home - including a chest full of Christmas presents - was ravaged by the fire.

“It’s such a tragedy but so many miracles at the same time,” said Horn’s daughter, Dejya Cordora, 23.

'A very caring person'

Tracey Richburg learned about the fire in a text message.

Richburg and Horn have been lifelong friends, graduating together at Northeastern High School and keeping in touch through motherhood and job changes. Richburg lives in Savannah, Georgia, now, but the two old friends reconnect as if time and space are non-existent.

A friend sent Richburg a text message on Nov. 2, saying there was a fire at Horn’s home, the house where she had raised her children, Cordora and Dontae Mason, who is now 20. The friend’s calls to Horn went unanswered.

”She was worried because she couldn’t get a hold of her,” Richburg said. And after calling York Hospital, Richburg also wasn’t able to locate her old friend.

As the story started to unfold that day and her friends began to learn what happened, Richburg stepped in to help the woman who gives so selflessly to others.

 “She’s always there to hear or to comfort someone else,” Richburg said.

"We haven’t always had a lot of money, but anything she could offer, she always would," Cordora said.

This time, it would be Horn who needed her friends. The fire, which also involved the house beside hers, had destroyed her home. The Christmas presents she already purchased, gone. Her hospital stay would be expensive and so would her recovery. So, Richburg turned to Horn’s friends and family, asking for their help. More than $6,000 has been raised so far.

"All the classmates and friends and family that have donated, it’s been overwhelming. They knew she’d do the same thing if it was any of us," Richburg said.

Heroic efforts

When the 9-1-1 call came into the York City Fire Department, firefighters learned that two people were trapped in a house at 221 Roosevelt Ave., said Fire Chief Chad Deardorff. 

The plan that Horn and her boyfriend could jump out the window stopped when they could see flames coming up to the window, her daughter, Cordora, said.

"Due to fire conditions, we threw two ladders to the front of the building," Deardorff said. Horn's boyfriend, Torrey McCourty of York, descended the ladder on his own. Horn couldn't.

Firefighters climbed the ladder to reach her while other emergency workers were able to gain control over the flames on the first floor enough to clear their way to Horn on the second floor. They helped her to the window along with the family dog, a Rottweiller, who was given oxygen after his rescue.

"It was a great save on our guys’ part. The instinct kicked in on what they needed to do," Deardorff said.

The cause of the fire was an overload of the first-floor's electric circuit, Deardorff said.

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How is everyone?

Horn had been sent to Lehigh Valley Medical Center's burn unit because of the amount of smoke she inhaled and spent more than a week there. She is still recovering.

McCourty escaped without breathing issues, and so did the dog, who is being cared for temporarily by the York County SPCA until Horn is able to.

"We’re trying to do little things to make her feel more normal and to replace some of those things that were lost," said Cordora, who lives in Colorado with her husband. They returned to York to help Horn sort through insurance and other issues.

She was able to find and save some of her mother's jewelry, and her mother's wallet - with money in it - was intact. 

Cordora went through the house to see how badly damaged it was.

"You walk in the house, it’s all black, like it’s in a fireplace. Her bedroom door is black, charred, but her bedroom looks untouched," Cordora said. "We know that God definitely had His hand over her."

Kim Strong can be reached at kstrong@ydr.com.