Auburn, CA - When a 25-year-old man heard a fire alarm ringing next door, he said he had his family in mind as he smashed a fire extinguisher case, grabbed the device and ran into the smoke-filled apartment.
With flames shooting up from the stove, Christopher Glass quickly acted and put out the fire so he could switch off the burner.
Glass said he thought about the potential damage when he first saw the fire and letting it burn “Just was not an option.”
“That would burn everybody out of an apartment,” Glass said. “I couldn’t have that.”
Glass was visiting his sister, who lives at Miners Station Apartments off Quartz Drive in Auburn, when the incident occurred Wednesday at about 1 p.m.
Glass’s quick thinking kept a dangerous situation from becoming worse, said Cal Fire Captain Rick Couvrette.
“If that fire was not discovered at that stage, it would have extended to the cabinets directly above it,” Couvrette said. “It would’ve been a full-blown apartment fire that would’ve put the whole building at risk for sure.”
Couvrette said Glass’s action was a “good save” and the “right thing to do.”
Couvrette said they encourage residents to use nearby fire extinguishers to put out small fires. He cautioned, though, that people should put their own safety first.
“No one should get hurt doing it,” Couvrette said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation as possible arson, Couvrette said.
Couvrette could not comment on the details of the investigation.
Glass said when he entered the smoke-filled apartment, it looked as though the resident was making a campfire on her stove. Pieces of plastic and wood wrapped in foil were on top of the burners, Glass said.
He said while he was trying to extinguish the flames, the resident came back inside and started yelling at Glass to leave her home while she was spraying him with Windex.
“I told her you need to get out of the apartment,” Glass said.
Glass said the large amount of smoke and the sight of plastics burning made him worry for the health of anyone inside.
The 43-year-old female resident was arrested on a felony charge of arson, according to Placer Sheriff’s spokeswoman Dena Erwin.
Authorities are withholding the woman’s name because she is being held for a mental health evaluation.
Erwin said the resident was allegedly burning a box that contained latex gloves and other items. The box was on top of an electric stove burner when it caught on fire. The fire damaged the stove, fan and hood above it as well as the wall behind the stove, Erwin said.
Courvette said it was a good thing no one was inside during the fire because the large amount of smoke was dangerous. He said fire crews had to clear the smoke before investigators could enter the apartment.
Glass’s mother, Linda Voller, who was also visiting at the time, said she is “so proud” of her son’s heroic effort.
“This young man saved other apartments from being burned down,” Voller said. “If my son had not put out the fire, God only knows what would have happened.”
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