SPRINGFIELD — An elderly Springfield woman was transported to Bay Medical Center with multiple burns shortly after 3 p.m. on Friday after a fire broke out in the widow’s home at 615 Williams Ave.
“I seen the smoke in the street and thought someone was burning something, then it got thicker,” said neighbor Terryl Vann.
Vann realized the smoke was billowing out of the home of 75-year-old Suhpa Catlett. He was immediately concerned when he didn’t see her on the front porch.
“I kicked the door open and went in there for her, but I couldn’t get past the first room,” Vann said. “The smoke pushed me back out. It was so black, you couldn’t see nothing.”
Fire Chief Alexander Baird said there was heavy fire on the back side of the house when the Panama City Fire Department arrived.
Firefighters located Catlett inside the house. She was breathing, but not alert when they carried her out to rest on the ground outside. She was then transported to the hospital by Bay County EMS. Her condition was not immediately known.
Neighbor Denise Qureshi said Catlett wasn’t the only victim inside. The woman had four dogs in the house that had been Catlett’s companions since her husband passed away two years ago from cancer.
Two of the dogs were found dead by firefighters.
Catlett is originally from Thailand and attends Wat Buddhasaengdham, a nonprofit run Buddhist temple on Cherry Street. Her monk and friends from the temple stood outside the home with other concerned neighbors waiting for more details about what caused the fire.
Catlett’s son, who didn’t give his name, said he’d just seen his mother around 1:15 p.m.
“I always bring her food,” he said. “She was sleeping. She always takes a nap around 1.”
Neither the victim’s son nor Chief Baird could say why the fire started. Baird said the cause would be under investigation by Panama City fire inspectors and the State Fire Marshal.
“One of our major concerns was the house next door is relatively close,” Baird said. “The fire coming out of this house was getting very close to impending on that house.”
But firefighters stopped the blaze before it left Catlett’s property. Bystanders looked both shocked and relieved the damage wasn’t worse than the smoke made it appear.
“It just hurt me that I couldn’t go no further than that first room,” Vann said. “There was so much stuff behind the door, I just couldn’t really get in.”