This past Labor Day, a Sacramento family escaped the fire consuming their house. Fire rescue crews were still inside when the inferno, whose flames shot 50 feet into the air, caused the roof to collapse.
Around one o’clock in the morning, Jesse Chan heard a noise from outside. He opened the front door to find a small fire on the porch. Chan immediately ran to tell his parents, who were asleep.
“My dad ran through the front door while the flames were still small,” said Chan. “He ran through the front door and grabbed the hose. I went through the garage and opened the garage door.”
As Chan’s father tried to use the hose to douse the flames, neighbors look on in disbelief.
“We felt the heat from our balcony, just standing up there”, said Jocelynn Tupou. “It was scary, especially for us since it is our first time experiencing a fire”.
“And then the big boom, which the front of the house dropped,” described Alisi Finau.
The Sacramento City Fire, Cosumnes Fire and Sacramento Metro Fire each had firefighters fighting the flames. When the roof collapsed, crews believed one of their own was trapped inside.
“The captain was quick to recognize he did not have his firefighter with him. He was separated because of that roof collapse”, said Sacramento City Fire Captain Chad Augustin. “It is very scary for a fire company when that happens”.
Thankfully, the firefighter got out okay. Crews then continued to fight the fire from outside the house.
Each member of the Chan family also escaped the blaze, even the family’s small dog.
“I said, ‘I cannot just leave her’,” said Bonnie Shiu. “I just laid down the phone, ran downstairs through the smoke, opened her cage and grabbed her. She was frozen sitting there.”