Neighbors Say Pollock Pines Man Set Himself On Fire

POLLOCK PINES (CBS13) — Neighbors rushed to save a man burning alive at a Pollock Pines mobile home park on Monday after they say he poured gasoline all over and ignited himself.

It happened at the Whispering Pines mobile home park just north of Highway 50. The mobile home was destroyed as the fire ripped right through it, but neighbors say what happened to the man who lived there is far more devastating. They say he doused himself and his house with gasoline, then set the fire.

"It was sad to see the guy burning," Augustine Rocha said. "He was in flames and most of his clothes were gone."

Rocha did what he could to save the man, whose name wasn't available.

"I see the guy in flames and a neighbor putting water on him," he told CBS13's Neda Iranpour. "I grabbed a hose and put water on him."

The fire's fury had young kids flying out of bed around 9 a.m

"I woke up to someone yelling, 'Help me! Help me!" Cynthia said. "I ran as fast as I could. Someone was laying down and I saw the house on fire."

"Everybody started getting out their hoses and started spraying the house," Erica said.

"The fire was coming out of doors and windows," Vicente said.

Another man who lived there got out in time. But not much else made it. Melted walls, a charred kitchen, blackened furniture, ash-covered toys and a torched truck are all that's left.

Children were left traumatized as they watched their neighbor rushed out by helicopter with life-threatening burns. He was taken to UC Davis Burn Center.

"I think it's sad his house burned down," Vicente said.