Disabled Woman Escapes Shelby House Fire That Killed Husband

A wheelchair-bound woman said she had to escape her burning Shelby home by hurling herself out the front door, but her husband did not survive the Monday morning fire.

Renee Ledford said she woke to find her bed on fire. Someone can be heard on the 911 call yelling to her, “Get out of here!”

“I can’t get my husband out,” Ledford told the 911 dispatcher.

She then managed to throw herself, with her wheelchair, through the doorway to escape the blaze on Washburn Switch Road.

Ledford said her estranged husband, Rick Ledford, was apparently overcome by the smoke.

The fire chief said he was the only one who couldn't get out on his own. Family members said he had a stroke and was disabled.

His brother, Robert Ledford, escaped unharmed.

Renee Ledford said burning debris fell on her head as she tried to get out. Neighbor Lynn Donaldson called the woman’s escape a miracle.

“For her to get out the way she did, I believe it was a total act of God,” she said.

Donaldson cuddled some of the rabbits saved from the fire. She said Rick Ledford loved animals.

“Rick was a very loving person,” she said.

Investigators are working to learn the cause of the fire.