Sacramento father and son rescued from house fire on Christmas Day
SACRAMENTO — A father and his young son spent their Christmas night in the hospital after being rescued from a house fire in Sacramento.
Firefighters responded at around 5:30 p.m. on Monday evening after a fire broke out in a multi-unit home on Acacia Avenue in north Sacramento. The father and his son were found unconscious inside.
"All of a sudden, we see fire trucks coming down the street," neighbor Yolanda Walker said. "At first, I thought someone was getting pulled over, but then there were like seven fire trucks. I was like, 'What is going on?' "
Sacramento Fire Department crews showed up and located the fire in the back of the building.
"They located a male victim in the kitchen," Captain Justin Sylvia said. "They got him out onto a gurney and transported. At that point, he was unconscious."
Walker said it looked like the man's pants were on fire. When firefighters went back in, they found a child in the shower area, also unconscious.
"The child also started waking up. He was breathing about four to six times a minute, initially, but they were able to get his respiratory rate above 20," Sylvia said.
Sylvia added that firefighters were unable to locate smoke detectors in the house.
"This is a great opportunity to take that time and change your batteries out because if this had a working smoke detector, those people would've gotten out a lot quicker and wouldn't have succumbed to the smoke and gotten these injuries," he explained.
Firefighters were able to limit the fire to only one unit. We spoke to another resident in the building who said everyone else was OK.
Meanwhile, the fire department wants to use this incident as a reminder to regularly check your smoke alarms and start getting rid of those Christmas decorations.
"Unplug those Christmas lights now that Christmas is over," Sylvia said. "Try to get that tree out as quickly as possible because it's just drying up and does cause a fire hazard."
The father and son are being treated for smoke inhalation at an area hospital. Officials say the father also has severe burns on his hands and arms. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
