A San Jose schools groundskeeper is being credited for his fast-thinking on Wednesday morning after he and firefighters saved two women and a pit bull puppy from a burning motorhome.
San Jose Fire Capt. Mary Gutierrez told NBC Bay Area that Jesus Hernandez, a groundskeeper for the Evergreen School District, is a "real hero, who was in the right place at the right time."
Hernandez, whom Gutierrez called a humble man, did not want to speak on camera.
Fire dispatchers received 911 calls just before 8:30 a.m. from the 1900 block of Santiago Avenue. When they arrived, crews found a Tioga motorhome, parked in the driveway of a home, fully engulfed in fire, Gutierrez said.
At that moment, Hernandez was driving by.
Gutierrez said that he spotted smoke and flames and heard someone yelling about not being able to get out. He stopped, took out a garden hose, and was able to open the motorhome door, freeing the women. One was burned and the other suffered smoke inhalation, and were taken to the hospital.
When firefighters arrived, they rescued a pit bull puppy who was inside.
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Gutierrez said luckily, the motorhome fire didn't spread to the house, adding that early indications show that one of the women had fallen asleep with a candle burning.
San Jose is full of heroes this week.
On Tuesday morning, a San Jose school bus driver - Wilma Acosta of the Franklin-McKinley School District - rescued a wheelchair-bound student from out of a burning bus outside Sylvandale Middle School.