SPD Officer Warnisher saves woman from fire at home on North Seventh Street

A woman was rescued by a Springfield Police officer from a fire in her two-story home in the 1100 block of North Seventh Street Sunday morning.

SPD Officer Chance Warnisher is being credited with the live-saving effort.

SPD Chief Ken Scarlette, who provided the name of the officer to The State Journal-Register on Tuesday, said Warnisher will be acknowledged to his fellow officers and the public with the Life Saving Award at a later date.

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"I'm proud of (Officer Warnisher), and it's a proud day for our agency," Scarlette told the city council's committee of the whole Tuesday.

"(The SPD chiefs are replicas) of what these men and women want to see leading their departments and Chief Scarlette values all of the sworn men and women in the department, especially Officer Warnisher, who saved a woman's life this weekend," Mayor Misty Buscher said Tuesday. "That is an amazing thing."

Springfield Fire Department Battalion Chief Chad Bates said the 83-year-old woman refused treatment at the scene.

Bates said the house was an entire loss.

Louis Miloncus, who lives across the street from the fire scene, noticed the fire about 9:20 a.m. and called 911. He was able to flag down Warnisher, who was driving down North Grand Avenue.

Miloncus said he ran over the residence earlier. A passerby broke out a window facing Seventh Street in an effort to alert the woman about the fire.

"We tried getting her out, but she was scared," Miloncus said. "She didn't understand what was going on."

Miloncus said the woman may have been in the front of the house when he was trying to coax her out the window.

SPD Lt. Scott Ligon said Warnisher also tried to get the woman out through the window. The woman may have been asleep when the window was shattered and may have startled her, he said.

When she refused exit through the window, Warnisher kicked in the back door and brought her to safety, Ligon said. Warnisher then closed the door, Ligon added.

Miloncus said he saw flames "at least 10 to 12 feet high" in the front part of the house.

It took crews about 30 minutes to get the fire under control, Bates said.

The fire spread to a home immediately to the south, but Bates said there was minimal damage.

Bates said there were no other occupants in the home. He said utilities to the house were cut.

In 2021, Warnisher was one of seven SPD officers presented the Porter Williams Award "for the most distinguished act of bravery or heroism by a police officer."

Warnisher was acknowledged with others for response to the June 26, 2020, fatal shooting at the Bunn-O-Matic warehouse. Three people died in the shooting. The gunman took his own life.

Sunday's fire remains under investigation.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.