Teenager Jumps Into Action to Save a Mom and Her Son From Raging House Fire
— -- A California teen who happened to be in the right place at the right time helped save a mother and her 5-year-old son from their burning home Tuesday night -- when the father, who works for the fire department, happened to be absent.
Matt Hawker, 17, was driving home shortly before 10:30 p.m. when he saw large flames that he described as looking like a “bonfire” consuming the house in Rancho Cucamonga, according to ABC's Los Angeles station KABC.
"I rolled down my window, slowed down and I heard her yelling, 'Help me!' so I put my car in park and ran straight to the backyard,” Hawker to KABC.
Joy Chapman and her son Brayden were woken up by smoke alarms but couldn’t make it down the stairs before smoke and flames blocked their path, according to the Rancho Cucamonga Fire District.
Chapman had already jumped nearly 19 feet from the balcony and came down so hard she broke her leg. That's when Hawker saw her at the back of the house. But Brayden was still stuck inside.
Hawker said he went into rescue-mode and found a ladder on the side of the house, propped it up on the balcony and got Brayden out safely.
"I grabbed the kid and when I picked him up he was pulling my hair and slapping me because he was scared. But I lifted him over the balcony and lowered him down," Hawker said.
“Boogie,” the family’s Labrador retriever was killed by the fire, the L.A. City Fire Department told ABC News today.
She was a FEMA search-and-rescue dog and worked alongside Joy’s husband, James Chapman, a 14-year veteran of the L.A. City Fire Department. James wasn’t home during the fire.
"We do it for a living. We're trained to do it as firemen, so it's expected of us. It's not expected of a 17-year-old," Jason Chapman later told KABC.
Jason Chapman, Joy Chapman and the Rancho Cucamonga Fire District did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment. Hawker could not be reached for additional comment.
