A neighbor rescued a 97-year-old woman from her burning home in Alamo on Sunday evening, a San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District official said this morning.
The blaze was reported at a one-story house on Via Aspero in Alamo around 5:45 p.m., Fire Chief Richard Price said.
A neighbor helped the elderly woman get out of the burning house, and the home's other occupants also exited safely, the chief said.
Firefighters contained the fire, but not before it spread to the roof of a neighboring home.
A preliminary investigation indicated that the fire might have been sparked by fireplace cinders that were placed in a plastic trash bin, Price said.
No injuries were reported in the blaze.
The Contra Costa Times reported that the neighbor, Randy Harrell, and his son jumped the fence of the burning home and went through the back door where they found the 96-year-old woman.
Then they went to the back door and found the 96-year-old woman, the man's mother, in her kitchen on the phone with 911 dispatch, Harrell said. The front of the house was ablaze and smoke was pouring into the kitchen.
So Harrell said he carried the woman, who uses a walker, out of her house, lifting her over the fence at the edge of the yard and handing her to his son. He was able to get the family's dog out of the house, too.
The CCT reported that the woman was 96 years old.
-Bay City News Service
