Wayne Township man saves neighbor’s house from fire
Photo courtesy of Bill Brant
Fire climbed up the back of Jim Kuty’s refrigerator following an Oct. 12 blaze.
Photo courtesy of Bill Brant
Fire damaged this wall in Jim Kuty’s Greene County home Oct. 12.
Courtesy of Bill Brant
Bill Brant, of Wayne Township, Greene County, was looking out for his neighbor Oct. 12, when he put a fire out that started in his neighbor’s kitchen.
Courtesy of Bill Brant
Jim Kuty, 88, of New Jersey, visits his Wayne Township home in Greene County during hunting seasons.
Jim Kuty is very thankful to have met his hero last year.
Of course, back then the 88-year-old New Jersey man had no idea he would be calling Bill Brant, of Wayne Township, Greene County, his hero.
Kuty, who was born in Brownsville, owns a ranch-style home and property in Wayne Township, though he’s lived in New Jersey for years. He uses the old farmhouse as a vacation spot and during hunting seasons.
Brant moved in across from Kuty’s farmhouse about a year ago. Since theirs are the only two homes on their dead end street just east of Spraggs, Brant checks on the farmhouse while Kuty’s in New Jersey.
This neighborly act became heroic Oct. 12, when Kuty’s house caught fire.
That day, Brant said, there was a widespread power outage at about 11 a.m. Much of Waynesburg was without power and it reached his house too.
“Half of our place didn’t have power,” Brant said.
When the power kicked back on a while later, Brant said he heard a “pop” in his living room. When he investigated, he found a breaker had blown and that a power strip had burned up.
“There’s a fan in the living room that actually quit working,” he said. “It must have burned it up.”
Brant decided he should check on Kuty’s house, in case it too was affected by the outage. It too only had power in half the residence, and Brant said he smelled “something electrical.”
He left, but returned a few minutes later to a house full of smoke – the refrigerator and the wall behind it were on fire.
“Flames were rolling up the back wall,” Brant said. “I didn’t have a fire extinguisher or anything. I couldn’t holler at anyone because we’re in the middle of nowhere and cell service is bad.”
Brant kicked out the plug of the refrigerator and pulled the whole thing away from the wall and eventually outside. During that process, he realized the drawers were filled with water bottles. He used them to put the fire out on the wall and the appliance.
“My first thought was to get the fire out,” he said. “If I would have stopped and called the fire department, they wouldn’t have made it out there in time. I didn’t know what else to do , and I didn’t want his whole farm house burning up.”
It was enough water to put the fire out, Brant said. The fire damaged the wall, the refrigerator and a furnace, Brant said, but “it could have been the whole house.”
Kuty is certain he would have lost his house had it not been for Brant being a good neighbor.
“I’m not sure all neighbors would be that observant and helpful,” Kuty said. “As far as I’m concerned, he’s my hero. If he was five or 10 minutes later, it would have been burning so bad. I couldn’t be more thankful to him.”
Brant said he’s just thankful Kuty’s house is still standing.
“I was there in the right place at the right time,” he said. “I would have done it for anybody.”