Jamie Strotmeyer was driving between haul-away gigs around 10:30 a.m. on May 20 when he noticed dark smoke rising above the treetops along South Burlington’s Dorset Street. He pulled into a nearby condominium village and located the source: the second-story window of a brick townhouse.
Strotmeyer saw no one outside despite the blaring smoke alarms. He hopped out of his truck — leaving behind his golden retriever, Ted — and ran toward the townhouse, looking up to see fire shooting from the window “like a flamethrower,” he’d recall later.
He yanked open the sliding glass door and called out, expecting nothing in return. Instead came a frantic reply from above.
“I’m up here!”
Strotmeyer says he gave little thought to what he did next.
He ran over to the stairs and looked up to see an older woman sitting on the top step as flames engulfed a bedroom a few feet away. Her face was blackened, and she was having trouble breathing. Strotmeyer climbed the stairs into heavy smoke and brought the woman to her feet. Then he helped her descend the stairs, one step at a time, until she was safely out on the lawn.
Strotmeyer called 911 and heard sirens begin to wail from the fire station just down the road. He knocked on the doors of the neighboring condos and encouraged one of the homeowners to come outside. Firefighters arrived within minutes and doused the flames before they spread.
Terry Francis, the city’s fire marshal, concluded that the blaze was started by improperly discarded “smoking materials.” The damage was estimated to be around $125,000. The woman was discharged from the hospital later that day.
Speaking to local TV crews, Francis said he’s not sure the woman would have survived without Strotmeyer’s actions. Strotmeyer brushed off the praise, saying anyone would have done what he did.
Still, the 49-year-old Burlington man got a kick out of telling his sons — ages 7 and 13 — about how he spent his morning. Asked what he thought about his dad being called a hero, Strotmeyer’s older boy shrugged.
“I mean, he’s my dad,” Jack said. “He’s always been kind of awesome.”