A Tacoma, Washington, family was saved from an early morning house fire when their neighbor pounded on their door to wake them up. At 5:30am on Saturday morning, Jennifer Graves was on her way home from her job as a health care worker. As she approached her neighborhood, she could see her neighbor's house was on fire. “The closer I got, the scarier it was,” says Graves. “And I just called 911.”
She parked at her home and walked down to her neighbor’s to check on them and pounded on their door until they woke up. Because of Graves’ actions, the homeowner, his wife, and three children escaped, but then the homeowner realized his 11-year-old daughter was still inside and ran back in to get her. He got his daughter from her second floor bedroom, but they were trapped by the flames. Graves encouraged them to jump and by the time firefighters arrived everyone was safely outside.
The family was taken to the hospital where the father is being treated for smoke inhalation and burns and is in critical condition. The 11-year-old was also admitted for her injuries while the rest of the family was treated for minor injuries. Captain Darrin Shaw with the Central Pierce Fire & Rescue credits Graves with saving the family’s lives. “Had it not been for the neighbor today, knocking on doors, waking them up,” Shaw says, “we would have definitely had a very different outcome.”
Source: My Norhtwest