Heroism was on display Wednesday as an Oakland apartment fire sent an entire construction crew to the hospital.
It happened at 61st and Martin Luther King Way around 10:30 a.m.
Video shows the moments EMS and Oakland fire crews rush to help a fire victim who had been pulled from the burning building.
“I was driving and I noticed black, thick smoke from a distance,” said security guard Juan Melgoza, was driving to meet NBC Bay Area’s team when he spotted the fire and decided to stop and help.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
That’s when he saw two men who had already escaped the flames trying to get into the burning apartment to rescue a friend still trapped inside.
“He was just screaming, he was saying ‘I can not see, I don’t know where to go, I can not see’ I could hear from the inside he was banging the walls, he was probably looking towards an exit,” Melgoza said.
Unable to get to the man and see past the smoke, he used a flashlight to guide the man to a window and it worked.
Local
“My first instinct was to pull him out of the apartment and when he was out of the apartment, he was still in flames, part of his body and his clothes, so I ran to my car and brought a fire extinguisher,” Melgoza said.
Pictures from inside show how the fire spread through the empty apartment burning nearly every surface.
Kalila Kirk lives next door and heard the screams for help.
“I heard screaming and heard what sounded like my neighbors saying “oh no, oh no”. I came outside and she was with one of the guys,” she said. “There was a guy with his shirt off and then a guy lying on the ground. He was moving but I could see that he was really badly burned.”
The unit was being renovated by the three member construction crew when the fire started. All three were taken to the hospital. Two remain at Highland one with minor injuries, the other in critical condition.
Oakland fire is now investigating how it started adding it appears cleaning chemicals were being used at the time.
“The fire went out relatively quick. It looked like it was more of a flash fire,” Oakland Fire Department Battalion Chief James Bowron said. “A big quick burst of energy broke the windows out, lots of smoke, small amount of fire.”
Firefighters contained the flames to the single unit.
Melgoza, who prides himself on always being over prepared, is glad he was there to help.
“Just trying to do my best so I can help other people,” he said.
