Firefighters rescued a man from a Costa Mesa home Thursday morning after a fire broke out in a bedroom.
About 7 a.m., 25 firefighters responded to the one-story house in the 400 block of Traverse Drive, which is just southwest of where the 405 and 55 freeways meet, according to a news release from the Costa Mesa Fire Department.
The first firefighters to arrive saw flames and were told that people were still inside the house.
Though heat and smoke hampered rescue operations, firefighters managed to pull a man to safety, according to fire officials.
They discovered that two other occupants at the home were able to escape the blaze before firefighters arrived.
“There is no question that time was critical for this rescue,” said paramedic Greg LaFave.
The rescued man was taken by paramedics to a nearby trauma center, where he was released Thursday afternoon, Costa Mesa Fire Chief Dan Stefano said.
Flames were extinguished within 15 minutes of the first truck arriving, according to Battalion Chief Kevin Diamond. Several firefighting and rescue vehicles responded.
The blaze caused about $90,000 in damage, according to a preliminary estimate.
Investigators are working to determine what sparked the flames.
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.
