KATY, Texas – While firefighters are investigating what caused a fire they said left a woman and her father in critical condition in Katy Wednesday, they are also thanking neighbors for saving the man’s wife.
Crews said they responded to a one-alarm fire in the 21500 block of Wellsford Glen Drive around 9:50 p.m. A man and his daughter were rescued by Cy-Fair FD crews as the blaze spread throughout the home, officials said.
Officials said the man’s wife, who also uses a wheelchair, was able to escape the blaze with the assistance of two neighbors who helped pull her to safety before the fire department’s arrival.
“There was a bunch of propane tanks in the garage,” Joel Flores, a neighbor who rescued the woman, said.
“(It) kept on having like small explosions,” Christian Flores, Joel’s brother, said.
Both brothers said they ran over and saw the man inside the home.
“He just said, ‘My wife and my daughter were inside,’ and then he was kind of just shocked. He ran inside there,” Joel said.
The brothers made the decision to follow the man as fire ripped through the home.
“The one thing that was running through my mind, ‘Where are they?’” Christian said.
Christian said the smoke was black and he couldn’t see, so using his hands to feel around, he came across the man’s wife.
“I accidentally stepped on her toes, and I heard her, so I felt around and grabbed her handles and just went back the same way I came,” Christian said.
Christian said he was lightheaded when he came out of the home. He said the father and daughter were still trapped inside the home until firefighters came and pulled them out.
“I could hear her,” Christian said. “I think she was screaming help,” Joel added.
According to firefighters, medics performed CPR on both the man and his daughter, who also uses a wheelchair, and transported them to Memorial Hermann in critical condition. Medics reportedly resuscitated both of them before transporting them because they initially had no pulse, officials said.