2 Women Rescued From Burning Modesto Apartment Complex
MODESTO (CBS13) – People jumped from a second-story balcony to escape a fire at a Modesto apartment complex early Saturday morning.
Cell phone video captured the flames racing from one apartment to another in seconds. But it's what happened minutes later that's nothing short a miracle.
"All of a sudden I heard someone yell 'Fire.'"
Stan Watson got up from bed and grabbed his camera.
"Flames were just billowing from the bottom floor to the top floor," Watson said.
And on the back side of the building, an even bigger shock.
Firefighters threw up a ladder and quickly pulled two women out of a bathroom window – one of them elderly.
"We hope for scenarios like this where we can actually make a difference," said Modesto Firefighter Jesse Miguel.
The women locked themselves in a bathroom and had to climb out of a window.
"One of the key things is they were able to make it to make it to a room that wasn't involved, and they closed the door behind them," Miguel said.
It makes this man all the more thankful it was just his stuff inside.
"It's devastating, you ever been in a fire before this is what it does to you," the man said.
He and his daughter worked into the night to load up the truck with anything they could save.
"I'm grateful that nobody died," the man said.
They'll be staying at a nearby motel with about twenty of their neighbors, including the two women who were rescued.
Watson hasn't met them, but from his perspective they're a reminder of what's important in life.
"I told my wife, it's amazing what could happen. Everything in our house, be gone," Watson said.
About 20 people were displaced by the fire. The Red Cross is assisting those displaced residents. Firefighters still aren't sure what started the fire.
