news-record.com

GREENSBORO - An elderly couple made it out of their smoke-filled home Thursday, thanks in part to a neighbor.

Marion Talton, 76, woke up about 10 a.m. As she went into the bathroom, Talton said she saw and smelled smoke in the home at 1107 Logan St.

Talton called for her husband James, 84, and asked him why there was so much smoke in the house.

James Talton had awoken earlier, but had fallen asleep as he read the newspaper in a front room.

At the same time, their neighbor Rhonda Connor was watching television when she saw smoke billowing from the Taltons' home. Connor's mother said it might be from a fireplace.

But Connor told her mother it was too much smoke and ran barefoot across the street, yelling for the Taltons to get out of the house.

She ran inside and saw Marion Talton trying to make her way out amid thick smoke.

Connor helped the woman out of her home and yelled for James Talton to get out. He escaped out a side door.

Marion Talton escaped the home barefoot and in her nightgown.

James Talton said he believes a wood stove in the rear of their home may have started the fire.

Smoke was still billowing under the roof about 11 a.m. as firefighters work to put out the blaze. Fire officials are investigating the cause.

The home sustained significant damage and the Taltons were not optimistic that anything could be salvaged.

"Everything is just gone," Marion Talton said.

The couple, who has lived in the home more than 40 years, said they will stay with family or in a next-door home they own. However, the side of that home was damaged by heat from the fire.

The Taltons were grateful they made it out of their home.

"Thank the Lord I woke up," Marion Talton said.

Contact Amy Dominello at 373-7091 or adominello@news-record.com