Despite their quick actions, Kurtis Baker, Bradley Cook and Takoma Ganett all had the same sentiment: “We wish we could have done more.”

The trio of passersby were able to pull a woman out of her burning Sewickley Township home Thursday afternoon but could not save her husband.

David Wayne Shotts Sr., 65, died in the house at 1048 Yukon Road, according to Westmoreland County Coroner Tim Carson.

Carson said Shotts’ wife, Ruth Shotts, was airlifted to UPMC Mercy for treatment of smoke inhalation and burns to her airway. A UPMC spokeswoman said it’s the hospital’s policy not to give out patients’ conditions.

The fire at the two-story frame house was reported shortly before 4 p.m.

It took crews 45 minutes to get the fire under control. Bill Dull, chief of the Hutchinson Fire Department, said about 10 crews were involved in taking the fire down.

“When we’re in this kind of position, it takes a lot to get something like that under control,” Dull said. “It was well involved when we got here.”

After seeing the fire, Shotts’ neighbors jumped into action.

Baker broke down the door of the home and followed Ruth Shotts’ cries for help to her upstairs bedroom.

“I pulled her out of the top of the house because I knew there was a balcony back there,” Baker said. “I heard a voice. I go in there and just start reaching — by that time, the smoke was so thick. I’m still pretty raspy from it. I couldn’t breathe in there.”

Baker said that once he grabbed Ruth Shotts’ hand, he used his body weight to pull her toward an exit.

Before he could make it very far, one of her oxygen tanks blew a window out.

He realized that he wouldn’t be able to make it back down the stairs.

“I had to take her (out) off the balcony,” Baker said. “I busted a railing off so I could jump down and pull her with me. I had to get her out of there because things were blowing up.”

Ganett and Cook were riding a quad when they saw the fire. Cook saw a man in the middle of the road yelling that someone was stuck inside.

The men ran down the street and assisted Baker in getting Ruth Shotts out of the house.

“Kurtis was already in there by the time I got here,” Cook said. “(Ganett) came with me, and we got the lady out. We went back and tried to do everything we could for the other one inside.”

Once the men got Ruth Shotts away from the fire, Ganett said they laid her on her side in the grass until emergency crews arrived. Ganett and Cook ran back into the house and attempted to help her husband but were unable to get him out.

Witnesses reported hearing more than one explosion from the house.

Neighbor Mark Galley noticed smoke outside.

“I was headed to my truck to see what was going on anyway, and then all of a sudden — boom,” Galley said. “I drove my truck down there to see what happened. And when I came up on the scene, I saw gobs of burning debris laying in the street.”

Dull said that while there were explosions during the fire, it is undetermined that the oxygen tanks were the cause. But he believes they are connected.

He said the house is a complete loss.

Crystal Barnhart stood with her family and watched as fire crews battled the blaze in her aunt and uncle’s home. Barnhart said the house had been in her family for years.

“I used to come here all the time as a kid,” Barnhart said. “My other aunt used to own this house before Aunt Ruth and Uncle Dave. There are so many memories.”

Carson said an autopsy is set for 10 a.m. Saturday. The cause of the fire was under investigation Thursday night.

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