Five people are alive today thanks to the heroic actions of a 67-year-old man at his home on South Linda Way in Santa Ana, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.
At around 1:30 a.m., his wife woke to the smell of smoke and quickly alerted him. When he opened their bedroom door, intense heat pushed him back.
He escaped out a window onto the patio cover and jumped nearly ten feet to the grass. He then placed a ladder for his wife so she could climb down safely without having to jump. With his wife and himself safely outside, he quickly acted to save the three others still trapped upstairs.
Without hesitation, he retrieved two more ladders. He climbed up the ladders three times, pounding on the bedroom windows to alert the remaining occupants.
“Open the window, son! Jump!” he shouted in Spanish as he pounded on the window of his sleeping son, with fire racing through their home.
The man saved his 11-year-old son, an adult son, and an elderly woman — and guided each safely down.
Thankfully, everyone slept with their bedroom doors closed, giving them precious extra moments to react and escape.
Their pet Chihuahua, Lyka, also escaped the home unharmed as firefighters extinguished the fire and assessed one adult, who was transported to the hospital for evaluation.
Reunited with loved ones and safe from harm, they reflected on the quick actions that turned what could have been a devastating tragedy into a story of courage and survival.
Thank you to Costa Mesa Fire, Fountain Valley Fire, Santa Ana PD, and SoCal Red Cross for the assistance.
The heroic father has been identied as Otoniel, a gardener. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help him and his family as they have lost their home of 20 years to the fire.
What a hero! God bless him and his family and help them recover from their material loss. Of course the most important thing is everyone survived, but the trauma of losing all your possessions and your home itself is not to be underplayed.