Man Pulls Victim From Fire

Still wearing his work clothes Thursday night, Ronnie Watts sits in his living room, in shock. 

“It happened so fast,” he said.

Watts, who has been working for the City of Fresno for 16 years, was across the street when he heard calls for help from witnesses.  Someone told him an elderly man was still inside.  When he got close enough, Watts could see him, just inside the screen door.

“He was just sitting there going, ‘Ugh,’” said Watts.  “I got the screen door open, bear hugged him and pulled him out and put him on the grass.  As soon as I saw him, I knew he was pretty bad.”

A few minutes earlier, someone else had tried to get to the victim, but couldn't.  Edilberto Cabral, a soccer player at Fresno Pacific, kicked in a window and severely cut his leg.

“I didn't think it twice.  I just broke it and I got caught,” said Cabral.

With two weeks until soccer season, the scholarship athlete is now sporting 23 stitches.  Firefighters are still investigating the cause of the fire, and warn people to take extra care of their elderly friends and family.

“It's extremely important to have good exits and working smoke detectors because seniors take a little longer to get out and may not be aware there's a fire,” said Mickey Taylor, a Battalion Chief.

Watts, who went back to work after his heroic deed, only hopes he did enough.

“I feel very bad for the victim and his family.  I hope he pulls though it but I've never seen anybody that burned that bad in all my life,” said Watts.