Grandmother Saves Elderly Neighbor In Three-Alarm Fountain Valley House Fire

FOUNTAIN VALLEY (CBSLA) — One person was injured Thursday after several homes in Fountain Valley caught fire.

fountain valley residential fire — (credit: CBS)

The fire was first reported by a mail carrier at about 11 a.m. in the 1700 block of San Luis Street, according to a Fountain Valley fire dispatcher.

The blaze burned two side-by-side residential structures, and a third alarm was declared as the flames threatened a fourplex to the rear, the dispatcher said. All of the residents who were home were able to escape and at least one person was burned and taken to the hospital.

"I was at work when my girlfriend called me and told me the neighbor's house was on fire," said a displaced resident, Frank Salucci. "It went fast from there to our place."

An 85-year-old Fountain Valley man was saved from the raging house fire by his next-door neighbor, officials said Thursday afternoon.

Grandmother Maria Garcia risked her own life and ran into the apartment through thick black smoke and flames and carried the victim outside on to San Luis Street.

Through tears, she says she found the man alone and naked in the living room screaming. She put on his clothes, took him in her arms, and got him far from danger.

Flames spread next door to a second building. Firefighters say as many as 21 people have been displaced. One victim that had burns on his head and was taken away by ambulance.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

KCAL 9

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