Elderly Man dies in Long Beach House Fire

A heartbreaking story out of Long Beach, an 84-year-old man loses his life in a house fire. His wife and son were able to escape.
Tragedy struck around 7:30 Tuesday morning as a Long Beach home burst into flames, taking the life of an 84-year-old man. Firefighters exhausted all efforts to contain the fire on Alyce Place, while neighbors sprang into action trying to rescue the family inside. Neighbor Jennica Garitty said, “I hopped out the back window and I saw my two neighbors trying to get out from their house so I hopped over the fence and then I helped them out.”
The elderly woman then told Jennica Garitty that her husband was trapped inside. Two other neighbors rushed by her side to help. “I reached in and I thought I could feel him, but I couldn’t get in because there was so much stuff and so Zack and Chris and myself we went to the side and we knocked out that window and pulled out that frame, but by that time I mean the smoke was just so dark. It was black, you couldn’t see. I mean you could put your hand in front of your face and you couldn’t see,” said Garitty.
Neighbor Christopher Williams said, “Fire was too bad by the time we broke all the windows out. We had to back up so bad day, terrible day.”
The woman and her son were sent to the hospital, one suffering from smoke inhalation. Plus one firefighter possibly broke his foot while battling the 30 foot flames.
Even though the family and community are devastated over the loss of the elderly man, the outcome could have been worse if neighbors did not selflessly act on instinct. “If someone’s in trouble it doesn’t matter if you’re thirsty or you’re on fire, it’s the humane thing to do to help everybody. If my family were in there, I would hope for someone to do that for me,” said Garitty.