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On March 27, 2006, Jim Sherman, who had been blind since birth, helped his legally blind neighbor Annie Smith escape a burning house in the Conroe/Grangerland area of Texas. A shared baby monitor let him hear Smith call for help while her daughter was working a night shift. The contemporaneous account does not establish that Smith had Alzheimer’s.
How did the baby monitor help Sherman hear Smith?
In a Houston Chronicle report published March 29, 2006, reporter Renée C. Lee said Smith’s daughter, Deborah, had arranged for the neighbors to share a baby monitor about six months earlier. She worried her mother might fall while she worked nights as a nurse. Sherman had previously helped Smith after hearing her fall over the monitor.
On the night of the fire, Sherman heard repeated popping noises and then Smith call, “Jim, Jim, the house is on fire!” The monitor carried Smith’s voice to Sherman; it was not a fire-detection device.
What did Sherman do?
According to Lee’s account, Sherman reached Smith’s home with his walking stick, following a familiar fence and path. He went a few steps inside, took Smith’s hands and led her outside. He then called 911 and took her to another neighbor’s home.
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Sherman told the Chronicle, “I got to the door and heard crackling, smelled smoke and felt intense heat.” Fire crews were dispatched at 10:18 p.m. and arrived 12 minutes later to find the house engulfed. Fire investigator Kevin Bates of the Montgomery County Fire Marshal’s Office said, “She probably wouldn’t have made it out of the house without his help.”
When did the fire happen, and what caused it?
The Chronicle published its report on March 29, 2006, and said the fire occurred the previous night: March 27, 2006. That contemporaneous account does not support the 2005 date sometimes attached to the story. It attributes the fire to an electrical overload in a bedroom, citing investigator Kevin Bates. A later blog retelling gives a different description, so the cause is best stated with the Chronicle’s attribution rather than recast as a confirmed faulty connection.
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What is known about Annie Smith?
The Chronicle identified Smith as 84 and legally blind. It reported that her daughters, Deborah and Delores Perry, were grateful for Sherman’s help. The report does not say Smith had Alzheimer’s, and the later retelling cited in coverage does not establish a medical diagnosis. The claim in the original headline that she had Alzheimer’s should therefore not be treated as fact.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsThe newspaper account also says Smith’s dog, three kittens and one of her three cats were uninjured; the kittens’ mother died, and another cat was found alive beneath debris.
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What this story does—and does not—show about baby monitors
The monitor served as a way for neighbors to hear one another, and in this incident it helped Sherman hear Smith’s call. The account does not identify the monitor’s brand, model, range or other features, and it does not show that a baby monitor detects smoke or prevents fires. Sherman’s actions are a report of what happened, not a safety procedure or a reason to enter a burning building. If there is a fire, call emergency services and follow their guidance rather than going into a dangerous structure.
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