Wheelchair-Bound Woman Rescued From Fire
Published: August 20, 2007
Bay Area firefighters were kept busy overnight battling fires sparked by the use of illegal fireworks including one that required the rescue of a wheelchair-bound woman from a San Jose home threatened by a backyard blaze and wildfires that charred several acres in Solano County and Arguello Park in San Carlos.
Authorities reported that they had received dozens of calls since nightfall on Wednesday reporting fires from Napa to San Jose. The blazes were the product of a dangerous combination of tinder dry conditions and fireworks ignited by Fourth of July revelers.
San Jose firefighters say they responded to at least five fire calls including a backyard shed fire on Almaden and Edwards just south of downtown, The flames came dangerously close to one home, forcing firefighters to evacuate a wheelchair bound woman.
“I told everyone to get out there’s a semi-ambulatory person in there that needed assistance to get out,” said Battalion Chief Mike Ayala. “It was difficult to get her out.”
The rescued woman — Claire Alves — praised firefighters for helping her.
“What do I think of them?” she asked. “They put their lives on the line for me.”
The fire began about 11 p.m. and was controlled an hour later. There were no injuries.
Meanwhile, the cause of a two-alarm grass fire that burned less than an acre in Arguello Park early Thursday in San Carlos was under investigation, the battalion chief of the Belmont San Carlos Fire Department said.
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