Carson man safe after flaming close call

A Carson man discovered his home was on fire Thursday night when he went into the bathroom and saw flames shooting out of the bathtub drain.

No one was injured in the fire at 206 Gold Hill, which started shortly after 7 p.m.

Harold and Margaret DeMacsek had just finished dinner when Harold said he smelled something strange coming out of the drain.

DeMacsek, who is 76 years old and on permanent oxygen, tried to turn on the tap and douse the flames, but said the water was off.

"That was the last place on Earth that you would figure there would be fire is the drain," DeMacsek said.

He said he poured some bottled water down the drain and then tried to call for help.

"All of a sudden there was an awful lot of smoke," he said. "I tried to call the fire department, but the phone was out."

DeMacsek's wife went to a neighbor's home to call 911 as the home filled with smoke.

Carson City Fire Chief Lou Buckley said DeMacsek was still in the home when firefighters arrived.

"When the first firefighters arrived they did a search of the home, found him and pulled him out of the house," Buckley said.

Firefighters chopped holes in the mobile home's apron. Buckley said there will be an investigation into the cause of the blaze.

A light rain fell as firefighters worked inside and underneath the home, which is located in the Comstock Mobile Village.

DeMacsek has been on oxygen for two years and has an oxygen machine in his home.