A San Diego man was hailed a hero for jumping into action to get his family out of a burning home in Bay Terraces overnight Tuesday.
The fire started just after 1:30 a.m. on Manzana Way and set off a smoke alarm that awoke 22-year-old Christian Hernandez-May. His entire family was home and asleep.
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WATCH HERE"I heard the fire alarm go off and I heard banging on the walls and opened the door and saw the smoke," he said. "I immediately woke up my girlfriend and told her 'we need to go.' I tried to get her to go out the window but she wouldn't go, so I jumped first and then carried her down. Then I went to my grandpa's window... and was yelling for them to come out."
Hernandez-May grabbed a nearby ladder and propped it up under the window to the second floor. One by one, his family members climbed out of the home, except his grandmother who was able to escape through the front door. Hernandez-May was able to get the dog out too, he said.
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SIGN UP By the time firefighters arrived, all six people living in the home were working their way out and flames were pouring from the second floor, said San Diego Fire-Rescue Deputy Fire Chief Brian Raines, who called the rescue "a bit of a heroic story from one of the residents."
Also a factor to getting residents out of the home -- working smoke alarms, Raines emphasized.
"On this fire, it definitely saved lives. It was able to alert the residents so that when we arrived in about four minutes the residents were already starting to exit the house, it definitely saved lives."
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Four people were taken to UC San Diego Medical Center. Hernandez-May said his grandma, uncle, and great-grandma were burned and his grandfather suffered smoke inhalation.
The home is uninhabitable, Raines said. Video showed smoke marks and a portion of the second floor gutted. The Red Cross would be providing assistance to the victims.
The deputy chief said firefighters were still working to determine the cause of the fire but believe it may have started from an appliance. SDFD's Metro-Arson Strike Team was called to investigate.
