Calif. man rescues bed-ridden neighbor from fire
By Andrea Woodhouse
Daily Breeze
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — A Manhattan Beach man rescued his bedridden 92-year-old neighbor from a fire early Thursday, officials said.
The man ran into the home burning next door in the 3000 block of Oak Avenue and pulled the elderly woman from her bedroom, where the fire had started about 2:10 a.m., said Manhattan Beach fire Battalion Chief John Weber.
"A neighbor hears the commotion and carries the woman out to the doorway," he said. "This was before (the Fire Department) even started rolling up."
Neighbors identified the man as Mike Noriega. Efforts to reach Noriega were unsuccessful.
"I can't wait to thank him. That's fantastic," said Larry Meistrell, whose mother, Lucille, suffers from osteoarthritis. "If she went that way, I wouldn't know what to do with myself."
A caregiver and the woman's adult disabled son managed to escape the fire, but apparently left behind the woman in a hospital bed.
Manhattan Beach firefighters, joined by crews from Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach, knocked down the blaze in about five minutes, Weber said.
The fire was contained to the woman's room, but likely caused up to $70,000 in damage, he said.
Investigators are working to determine the fire's cause.
Weber said the two women were taken to Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance for treatment of smoke inhalation. Also, the elderly woman had a small head injury.
Meistrell said his mother is recovering.
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