Must see helmet-cam video: Rescues at apartment fire in Seaside, CA.
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This is helmet-cam video from Justin Hastings of a fire reported just before 11:00 AM on April 10 at 1442 Yosemite Street in Seaside, California (Monterey County). A little girl was rescued by a neighbor (seen in the video in the arms of a police officer) and her mother was rescued through a window by the first arriving firefighters. Both were taken by helicopter to a hospital in San Jose. Three others were hurt in the fire.
Dennis Taylor, The Herald of Monterey County:
Seaside Deputy Police Chief Louis Lumpkin said two other people were taken to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula for treatment of burns, and a fifth victim refused treatment at the scene. The fire broke out about 10:50 a.m. at the Del Monte Manor apartments.
Neighbor Alexis Hunter, who called herself a family friend, said she entered the burning apartment and found the child, whom she identified as 3-year-old Kaijah Collins, lying in a hallway just inside the front door. She scooped up the child in her arms and left the building.
The child’s mother, whom Hunter identified as 35-year-old Michelle Collins, was trapped in a second-floor bedroom, calling for help but refusing to exit through the upstairs window because she didn’t know where her daughter was, witnesses said.
Firefighters helped the woman out of the window and brought her down a ladder to safety.
“I saw the Mom just banging on the window and so I ran over there,” said Alexis Hunter, who lives in the complex.
Hunter said what came next was a burst of adrenaline.
“I touched the door knob to see is if it was hot,” said Hunter.
She looked inside and saw three-year-old Keasha laying on the ground, by now a maintenance man made his way up to the apartment and together they burst inside and pulled little Keasha out.
“I took her down the stairs and I kept talking to her, because I know the little girl since she was a baby, I was like Keasha, pay attention look at me, she was breathing,” said Hunter.
But Keasha was badly burned, and Keasha’s Mom was still inside. Hunter said people tried getting her out but the smoke was too thick, so they went around got a ladder and tried getting her out from the back window. That’s when first responders arrived and helped pull Keasha’s Mom out.
