Couple, Four Dogs Rescued From Roof of Calif. Fire

STOCKTON, Calif. -- Two young adults and four dogs were dramatically rescued early Thursday morning from the rooftop of a three-level midtown Victorian home.

At 2:30 a.m., Jacob Skiller and his girlfriend, Rachel, were trapped by black smoke billowing from a fire inside the cream-colored home on the 900 block of North Hazelton Street. They went out a bedroom window, where firefighter Ken Pesvento was ready with a ladder.

"It was nerve-racking," Stockton Fire Department Capt. Emilio Mantua of Truck No. 2 said. The couple, covered in soot, were house-sitting/pet-setting for homeowner Cari Ross Olsen, who rushed back to Stockton from a overnight trip to Monterey.

She arrived near dawn to discover her home -- built in 1890 and once a Chinese laundry -- looking much the same on the outside but covered in smoke and ash on the inside.

"The damage is horrible," said Olsen, 38, a single, stay-at-home mom. Her 7-year-old son, Vincent, was staying with grandparents at the time of the fire.

The Fire Department estimated damage at $10,000, emphasizing the close-call rescue and the potential for a far worse outcome.

It was unclear who deserved credit for waking the couple.

Battalion Chief Rick Stubstad pointed to neighbor Melvin Tirado, 35, who lives across the street.

"I got home at 2:30 in the morning," Tirado said. "I saw the smoke. I heard sounds like pop, pop, pop. I was worried about them. I went to the side of the house and started throwing rocks at the window."

Tirado asked another neighbor to call 911. Within minutes, the Fire Department was on the scene and had set up two ladders. "They were in shock," Mantua said. "Pesvento got them down the ladder. It was a job well done."

In addition to the pet sitters, firefighters rescued the home's four pets: Otis, a bulldog mix; Milo and Yoda, two Chihuahuas; and Charlie, a white Labrador retriever that sleeps in the basement, where the fire spread. "He's all black," Olsen said.

The fire started when a dog blanket spread over a floor furnace ignited. Embers dropped into the basement below, where Charlie was sleeping on a mattress.

Copyright 2012 - The Record, Stockton, Calif.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service