Once his playing days were over, former Colorado basketball standout Fred Edmonds has made a career of helping people. He’s been involved in education, home finance and healthcare over the years, including his current position as an administrator with Kaiser Permanente.
But nothing Edmonds had done throughout his career quite prepared him for his actions Saturday, when he ran into a burning home and carried an elderly blind woman to safety.
“I don’t think you are ever really prepared for something like that,” Edmonds said. “You just react.”
Edmonds and his son, Trey, were driving home Saturday afternoon after a basketball game when Trey noticed smoke coming from the door of a home in Denver’s North Park Hill neighborhood. Edmonds said he at first thought it might be something as simple as some food burning on a stove, but as they slowed down, they heard a woman screaming.
“When I heard that, I told Trey, ‘Call 911 right now,’” Edmonds said. “I jumped out of the car and just took off. There was a lady on the porch screaming for someone named Lucy. I asked her how many people were in there and she said, ‘My mom is in the other room.’”
Edmonds then kicked open the door and entered the room where the woman was pointing.
“I go in and there were flames everywhere,” Edmonds said. “The bed was on fire, it was climbing up the walls and the whole room was filled with black smoke. It was in my face — everywhere. I saw a lady in the bed and I just picked her up and got her out of there.”
Edmonds took the woman — later identified as Maple Clemings — outside to safety, then turned his attention to the second woman, who was still in the house.
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