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A Taylorsville woman is alive tonight thanks to a stranger who pulled her out of her burning house. Today we spoke with the young mother who risked her life to save another.
"Her legs were down here, and she was laying on the ground with her arms over; just kinda semi-unconscious," Nicole Powell explained. That's how she met Janice Kranwinkle.
It was Friday afternoon, and Powell was driving home with her son when they noticed the Kranwinkle house was on fire.
"There was smoke and fire downstairs," Powell's son, Carson, said.
"I just had a feeling something was wrong, someone is in there. So I put my car in park and told Carson to stay in the car," Powell said.
Powell ran to the front door and had to push it open -- Kranwinkle's limp body was blocking it.
"She had soot all over her. She was semi-conscious, laying on the ground. She was so weak, she couldn't get up. She was disoriented," Powell said.
"If she hadn't opened it, I don't think I would have made it out," Kranwinkle said.
"She would have been dead, definitely," Powell said.
Kranwinkle was taking a nap downstairs when she woke up to the flames. She could hardly breathe. "I was just crawling up the stairs," she said.
"I put my arms under her arms, picked her up, and she came to her senses," Powell said.
The fire caused $50,000 worth of damage to the basement, and it's a mystery what caused it.
Powell says she's just glad she followed her gut and went inside the stranger's house. In fact, all her neighbors are strangers to her. She's only lived in the area one week.
"I guess I made a good impression," Powell laughed.
Kranwinkle has three children, and they took over a plate of cookies and a thank you card to Powell for saving their mom's life.
E-mail: abutterfield@ksl.com
E-mail: mgiauque@ksl.com
