4 July 2023
SHAWNEE, Kan. — A Johnson County father’s quick actions saved his family from a fire.
The fire happened near West 70th Street and Quivira Road in Shawnee. Now, even though the family can’t stay in their home, they said they’re lucky to be alive.
From the outside, the home looks normal, but when you step inside, there are sounds of broken glass, melted TVs and debris.
“You know when I look around, of course I am just so grateful to be alive,” Amber Roland said.
She said knocks on her window and screams from outside woke her and her husband up about two weeks ago.
Roland said her daughter and nephew saw a fire spreading in the kitchen, ran outside, and did what they could to help everyone.
“My husband and I ran out of the back door, and when we didn’t see my brother-in-law and my son, we immediately came back in,” Roland said.
Her brother-in-law and son were trapped with burglar bars on their windows. The front door wouldn’t open, so the only way out was the living room window.
Roland’s husband, Frank, started working to bust through the window.
“So he used his body and his head to just slam through the window,” Roland said. “And we were going to follow behind him, but we didn’t have to do that. We ended up getting out of the door.”
Roland believes the pressure from her husband busting the living room window helped the front door open.
Frank had third-degree burns and three surgeries following the fire. The couple’s 16-year-old son was burned, too.
The family said Frank is their hero.
“I think he feels very good about it,” Roland said. “I mean he should. He really is. He’s a hero.”
The family has created a GoFundMe account to help them start over.