VALLEY CITY, N.D. (AP) -- Portable heaters are being blamed for a Valley City house fire that led to a close call for a mother and two children and injured a firefighter.
Fire Chief Gary Retterath says two portable heaters were placed too close to a bed in the home's basement, igniting the Jan. 28 blaze. Linda Schonert and her children escaped the burning house by jumping from a second-floor bedroom window.
They suffered scratches on their legs when they hit a porch roof and then fell to the ground. One firefighter suffered smoke inhalation as he was turning off the natural gas connection to the house.
The home was destroyed. ___