The last City Council meeting before the election on November 5 was an eventful affair and unquestionably one of the highlights was the recognition of the bravery and quick thinking of three Santa Monica residents during an apartment fire just a few weeks ago.
At 1:53pm on the afternoon of Sunday October 8, emergency responders were dispatched to a residential structure fire at 1317 Euclid Street. According to the Fire Department, Engine 4 was the first to arrive on scene and they were able to confine the fire to its point of origin on the balcony and prevented extension into the unit.
However, it was the quick reactions and incredible bravery of Stephanie Inouye, Trevor Nichols and Jeff Jarow that resulted in saving the life of the elderly resident who lived inside the second floor apartment at 1317 Euclid Street.
"Trevor goes in and the woman in that apartment was trying to put the fire out," Jarow told the Daily Press. "She had some, not life threatening burns, but you could see her skin was badly burned … So, Trevor runs her down the stairs and she wants to go back in because she had four cats in there. Anyway, we didn't let her go in. The fire department rescued the cats, thank God.
"I was able to open the door across the hallway, because this woman was very old and I put her on top of Stephanie's back. But I had to hold on to them both because I didn’t want Stephanie to fall forwards down the stairs," Jarow said, adding, "So we got her out and forced the door [of her apartment] closed to try to minimize smoke damage. And that was it. We didn’t think about it much and the fire department showed up."
There was actually a block party going on very close by that was being attended by a considerable number of people including Inouye, Nichols and Jarow. The Daily Press obtained exclusive pictures of the fire and the rescue in progress.
"Their quick thinking and heroic actions, along with the prompt and professional response of the Santa Monica Fire Department, resulted in the safe evacuation of the building, including an elderly resident whom Stephanie Inouye carried to safety on her back," Mayor Phil Brock said, reading from the commendation, during Tuesday’s Council meeting.
"Their extraordinary bravery, calmness under pressure and compassion for their fellow neighbors serve as a remarkable example of community spirit and selflessness," he said.
Within eight minutes of the Fire Department’s arrival, all visible fire had been extinguished from a room, however, units remained on scene since potential extension remained a concern.
"Excellent communications from Fire Com and interagency assistance from SMPD in quickly shutting down the street allowed SMFD resources to quickly mitigate the incident," the Fire Department said in a statement, also confirming that the cause is currently under investigation by Fire Prevention and the unit is being assessed by City Building Engineers.
scott.snowden@smdp.com
