FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — A fire ripped through a Mendota home and sent a man to the hospital with serious burns. The fire happened just after 7 p.m. Monday in a neighborhood near Juanita and 8th Street.
Firefighters say the man was trapped inside and struggling with serious burn wounds. When firefighters found him he was found lying unconscious in the house.
George Hernandez is praying for his roommate who was airlifted to a nearby hospital. Witnesses say several people ran out of the burning home, but the victim ran back inside. They believe he was trying to save some of his belongings.
“In the event of a fire emergency, never go back inside no matter what you think is so valuable in the structure you could be risking your own life,” Cal Fire Captain Ryan Michaels said.
The majority of the house was destroyed in the fire. The five people who lived there were offered shelter from the Red Cross but instead they chose to stay with family.
Firefighters are still working to figure out what caused the fire, but they say the house did not have any working smoke detectors.
Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.
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