Off-duty firefighters help rescue woman trapped in house fire

EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. (KCRA) - A California family says firefighters who were not on duty came to their rescue in a house fire.

Jennafer Phillip’s said her 78-year-old mother narrowly escaped the flames of their El Dorado Hills home.

“It just got bigger and bigger, and windows were breaking, and the fire was billowing out,” she said.

The fire started at about 7 a.m. Thursday.

Phillips and her boyfriend, Jessie Sanchez, were sleeping in a downstairs bedroom when her father woke them up. Telling them the house was on fire.

“He told us that my mom didn’t make it down the stairs,” she said.

Phillips said they tried to go back upstairs to get her, but the heat and smoke were too much.

The family said they ended up grabbing ladders to help get the mother out from the outside of the home.

Sanchez said he was able to reach for the mother and pull her to the window to work their way down the ladder.

And that’s when Adam Tiffany, an El Dorado Hills fire captain, came over to the house to help the rescue.

“I grabbed my ladder; got it pretty close to the house and helped bring everyone down,” he said.

Luckily, Tiffany lives just a few houses down and was able to help with the rescue with other crews just in time.

“I mean the neighbors here are awesome. It’s amazing,” Sanchez said.

Tiffany added, “I would expect almost anybody to do this. If you have a ladder and you can be in a position to help, it’s just a friendly neighbor thing to do.”

And Phillips said that is the reason the house fire didn’t turn fatal.

“My mom told him that she thought it was a wrap. So that’s terrifying to think that my mom was like thinking she’s in her final moments,” Phillips said.

They say they’re thankful to have all made it out safely.

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