Woman In Wheelchair Rescued From Raging El Sereno Fire -- But By Who?
EL SERENO (CBSLA) -- A woman in a wheelchair emerged from a fast-moving fire in El Sereno Saturday and firefighters aren't sure exactly how she got out.
The fire was reported on the 4500 block of Lowell Avenue this evening.
KCAL9's Cristy Fajardo reported from the scene.
The area where the woman was rescued from was not easily accessible either.
"I got a call Alfred your house is on fire," Alfred Medina said, "I said, man I was just there ten minutes ago."
Medina learned just how quickly life can change
"I saw the flames two blocks away," he said, "two blocks away."
Under all the flames on Lowell Avenue is his family home of 40+ years.
Even in the raging inferno a woman, his brothers girlfriend, was saved.
The question is by who?
"She was inside," he said, "She was inside and she was paralyzed." He says she was alone when he left the home.
Firefighters treated the woman for minor burns to her face. They said she was outside in her wheelchair when they got there.
They were told neighbors got her out but neighbors told Fajardo otherwise.
"I just saw her and a young woman who lives there," neighbor Teresa Romero said in Spanish "I also saw three other men come out."
She insisted they were all people who stayed on the property. But Medina insisted the woman was home alone when he left,
Either way it's clear with a property surrounded by rubbish, if no one had come to her rescue this story would have had a much different ending
"Even if no one is quite sure who to thank," Fajardo reported.
Firefighters spent a couple of hours at the property putting out hot spots and flare-ups.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
