‘I’m no hero’: Retired cop becomes Cottonwood Falls fire rescuer

Saturday was not Kirk VanDegrift’s first fire rescue. But it was the first time he encountered real people. “I didn’t think. I just did it… It’s just what you do,” VanDegrift said Sunday about his actions before dawn Saturday in Cottonwood Falls. Even though one woman died, he potentially saved others. VanDegrift was sleeping when the fire developed in an apartment building at 801 Eighth Street around 4:16 a.m. “The smell of smoke woke me up,” VanDegrift said. “I thought it might be coming from my apartment, and maybe it was up in the ceiling.” When VanDegrift went outside, he instead found smoke coming from the end of an apartment building. He called 911, then went to the front of the building.
Source: Emporia Gazette