Off-duty paramedic saves seven-year-old girl from raging fire

An off-duty paramedic in the US scooped up a seven-year-old girl and carried her away from a raging fire outside her home.

Richard Recinos was driving home from his family’s Thanksgiving dinner when he spotted the flames in East Hollywood, LA, around 11.30pm Thursday night.

The trained paramedic arrived before fire crews and spotted young Savannah standing on her porch.

Flames had engulfed two large trees right in front of the house, and burning ash and embers were falling all around.

Mr Recinos zipped up his leather jacket for protection and ran towards Savannah, picked her up and ran back to safety.

Moments later, firefighters arrived and helped the rest of Savannah’s family – who were still inside the property – get out safely, KTLA TV reports.

‘Considering the circumstances, I saw my opportunity for a quick grab and go, quick exit, and everything went well,’ Mr Recinos said.

He called it a split-second decision he would make again “in a heartbeat,

Savannah was kept in hospital overnight and treated for minor burns to her feet caused by the falling ash.

Speaking to news broadcaster ABC 7, she later recalled being alerted to the fire by a neighbor.

‘I saw this spark and at first I thought it was just my imagination, I just standed (sic) there for like 10 seconds – I didn’t know what to do.”

Then she remembered her school’s fire safety messages, ‘don’t grab anything, leave the house, leave wherever you are’.

‘And I told my grandma that there was a fire and she went to alert everybody (in the family)’.

It was then Mr Recinos – who has long wanted to be a firefighter – spotted her.

‘That guy just came at a nowhere and… then he helped me get out of the fire,’ she explained.

Mr Recindos said Thursday night had strengthened his resolve to pursue a career in the fire service.

Posting on Social Media, the Los Angeles Fire Department said crews were called at 11.43 pm to a reports off a tree fire that had begun to threaten a two-story building.

They found two large trees fully engulfed and upgraded the incident to a structure fire to protect the home and extinguish the flames.

Damage was largely limited to the outside of the property, they said.

The family’s car, parked next to the trees, was destroyed, but the home itself remains intact and habitable. No other injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

The neighbor who alerted Savannah’s family to the fire also spoke to ABC 7.

He said: ‘I heard what it sounded like a snowstorm, like snow hitting the window. I looked up – it was ash, and it was all sort of like bright red outside.

‘I told my wife to call 911,I woke up the kids I came out here I banged on the door to wake my neighbors up. Their kid (Savannah) I was the first one to wake.”

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