Early Friday morning, 911 call takers receive frantic calls from neighbors on Anderson Court in Del Paso Heights. The two story residential structure was reportedly fully engulfed in flames on the second floor.

Sergeant Garret Dinkins, head of the Motor Division for Watchmen Specialty Protection, gave this report of the incident:

“I was driving along highway 80 eastbound, when I saw a heavy amount of smoke coming from the other side of Raley Blvd. I noticed the fire department was not in the area and noticed no law enforcement as well. i began to make my approach to the intersection of Raley and North Ave, when I saw a house fully engulfed in flames.

“I immediately made my approach and found multiple people screaming and crying for help around and from the building. as i exited my patrol i found that no one had called 911 and so i began to call fire immediately.

“Once I called fire and advised them of the situation, I had multiple people approach me and tell me their father was still inside the building. i saw the fire had fully engulfed his floor where he was supposedly at, so I had assumed the worst had already occurred.

“I began evacuating the entire block, when I heard someone say there was a man in the window. As I turned back towards the building, I saw an older adult male jump through the window of the second story, landing on his back onto the back trunk of a vehicle and slam head first into the concrete. I ran around the flames and began administering aid to the male on the ground. the male was fully burned from the face down.

“I gathered a couple of people as the fire began to engulf our area and myself and began to wrap the burn victim into a blanket. I carried the burn victim to a safer location and began to administer aid. I then began to run back towards the residence assisting in getting everyone away and helping grab the home owners dog.

“Fire arrived approximately 10 minutes after I made the call and I began assisting them with moving the people and burn victim to a safer location.

“Shortly after that there were over 15-20 fire trucks that arrived on scene and took over control of the scene and a medic unit arrived to begin transporting the burn victim.

“I spoke with the officer Faust shortly after to calm myself down and then shortly after they left, I spoke with fire medical who advised I had slight smoke inhalation and a single to the back of my neck. all of my duty gear checked clear and the rest of my exposed body had been checked by officer Faust.”


Support Public Service Journalism


Thanks to Our Sponsors

Learn how you can become a sponsor of Public Safety News. Learn More