When flames started in an upstairs bedroom of their Bay Terraces home last week, six members of the May family and their dog had just a few seconds to wake up, react and escape.
They say they were able to get out thanks to a mother’s love and determination, but Maria Nambo May was severely injured in the process.
Nambo May and her husband, Darrel, were asleep in one bedroom. Nambo May's 90-year-old mother and brother were asleep in another room. Her grandson Christian Hernandez-May and his girlfriend heard the fire alarm first when it went off around 1:30 a.m.
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“I have trouble sleeping now. All I see is that night over and over again,” Hernandez-May said.
He jumped out of bed and into action. After jumping out of the window, he grabbed a nearby ladder and propped it up under the window to the second floor. He was able to get his grandfather and girlfriend out, as well as the family dog. His
“Everybody needed to get out, when we couldn’t find my grandma, I thought we lost her," he said.
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What he didn’t know was his grandmother, Nambo May, was still inside rescuing her fragile elderly mother and brother, who is paralyzed from his waist down.
It wasn’t until later that Darrel realized the heroic actions his wife took.
"My wife did this in her panties and night shirt with no training, no thought -- she just went and did it and beyond that we don’t know how far down the stairs she went with her mother but she came back up the stairs to find me," he said.
He thinks that's when Nambo May was burned on her back, arms and face, leaving her in critical condition at UC San Diego Medical Center. She underwent surgery and is recovering, but will need to remain hospitalized for a while longer.
“At the peril of her own life, she was worried about others."
Nambo May's daughter and Hernandez-May's mother, Morganna, did not live at the house but has been by her mother's bedside since the fire. She says her mother is the strongest person she knows and it's hard to see her so fragile.
Nambo May's mother also remains hospitalized in critical condition but shows signs of improvement, the family said.
The home is inhabitable. Fire investigators are still working to determine the cause of the fire, but early findings indicate an upstairs appliance may be to blame. San Diego Fire-Rescue's Metro-Arson Strike Team was investigating.
