Woman tries to rescue roommate, but house fire claims his life
Amy Hanson was inside her Linda home Sunday night waiting for the food she had just ordered to be delivered when she heard her roommate yelling for help from his bedroom.
“I thought he was choking or fell but I wasn’t prepared for what I was about to see when I turned the corner,” Hanson said.
She ran into the room and saw flames on his head, neck, shoulder and arms.
Hanson couldn’t put out the fire and ran outside to get help. After neighbors called 911, Hanson went back into the house with a water hose to try and save her roommate but the smoke was too thick and she couldn’t breathe.
“I was in danger and left the house,” Hanson said. “I was feeling paralyzed with fear and devastated. I went out to the street because that is where I was directed.”
The person trapped inside the residence died from injuries in the fire, according to Linda
Fire Protection District Chief Kyle Heggstrom.
At 9:22 p.m., the Linda Fire Protection District responded to the fire in the 5600 block of Arboga Road.
“When we arrived on scene the first engine observed a single-family dwelling with heavy fire and smoke seen from the exterior,” Heggstrom said in an email.
Crews were informed of the person trapped inside the residence and firefighters searched for and located the body, according to Heggstrom. As of late Monday, the name of the individual was not being released pending notification of next of kin, according to Yuba County Sheriff ’s Office public information officer Leslie Carbah.
Four Linda Fire units and mutual aid from the Olivehurst Fire Department extinguished the fire.
“It destroyed pretty much everything except the shed in the backyard,” Hanson said.
Hanson, 37, was taken to the hospital by ambulance and treated for minor injuries. A cocker spaniel named Clay and Hanson’s service dog, Lola, a yorkie/ shih tzu mix, were killed in the fire.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, Heggstrom said.