Firefighters: Family saved themselves, part of home by keeping doors closed
SACRAMENTO - A house in Sacramento County caught fire Thanksgiving morning, leaving a family of six without their home on Thanksgiving.
The family was able to get out alive after the flames burned fast through most of the structure.
A devastating loss for a family now forced to find a temporary place to live during the holiday season but fire firefighters say the family did everything right to save themselves and part of their home.
"I was like oh my god are they all out?" says Daljit Mehanger.
Mehanger has lived next door for only three weeks. Her home burned down nearly eight years ago – also on Thanksgiving week.
"It was very traumatic. I almost relived the whole thing. We're not celebrating today," said Mehanger.
Mehanger's family is thankful their neighbors are safe and fire officials say that's not the only Thanksgiving miracle.
"They had heavy fire," says Captain Parker Wilbourn, who responded to the fire and says the home is nearly gone. "All of the garage space and that fire was spreading into the second floor and the attic of the home."
But one closed door connecting the garage to the first floor made all the difference.
"If there's enough oxygen and fuel that fire can spread very quickly throughout a home and we saw that. Close your bedroom doors before you sleep. What it can do is create a barrier between your room and the fire heading toward your room," said Wilbourn. "That door was holding all the flame the heat from getting into that first floor. This was a tragic event we have six people now displaced on Thanksgiving day but there are some positives to it they were all able to get out safely."
Fire officials on the scene offered to bring in the Red Cross to support the family. Sac Metro says Thanksgiving day is typically busy for crews. In 2021, they responded to 57 fires.