Off-Duty Ranger Goes into Burning House, Rescues Neighbor in Idyllwild

A fire broke out early Sunday at a home in Idyllwild, an off-duty state park ranger went into the burning structure, and he came out with the occupant alive and uninjured, a fire captain and witnesses said.

The fire was reported at 2:28 a.m. March 31 in the 54400 block of Village View Drive, south of the town center and east of Highway 243, Capt. James Reyes of the Idyllwild Fire Protection District told Banning-Beaumont Patch in a phone interview.

"The neighbor across the street heard a loud sound like a gunshot," Reyes said. "He saw the fire, woke the neighbor up and pulled him out of the house. He saved his life. He's a state park ranger.

"If he hadn't seen it, the occupant would not have got out," Reyes said. "That house was fully engulfed and we could see it from more than two miles away, easily. One of the engines from down Valle Vista in Hemet said they could see the glow from down there."

The three-bedroom, two-bath home was on a slope in a very hilly area, and firefighters lost water pressure at one point, Reyes said. An estimated 25 personnel, including Cal Fire crews, prevented the blaze from spreading to other structures and into the beetle-damaged, drought-stricken forest.

"We got knockdown at 5:30 in the morning," Reyes said. "It was a pretty deep-seated fire and there were water issues. Had to be very creative with water usage.

"We fought the whole fire with two hose lines," Reyes said. "There was lack of pressure because it was high in elevation. At one point we lost all water pressure and then got it back."

Residents in the neighborhood on Village View have worked with authorities to reduce fuel near homes and that helped firefighters limit the fire's destruction, Reyes said.

"The whole area, Idyllwild residents are very compliant with hazard abatement, fuel reduction," Reyes said. "Because of that the fire didn't spread. It did singe some trees on a neighboring property and it blackened the wall of a neighbor's house. But damage was contained to the one property."

No injuries were reported, Reyes said.

"The occupant was fine and all the firefighters were uninjured," Reyes said.

Janice Mulligan and Harvey Berger, who have a home just off Village View, said they were asleep when the fire broke out. Their guests in a rental next to the property that burned woke them up and they had to evacuate.

"We were all asleep and one of our friends who was staying at a house next to the house on fire, he called us about 2:35 and told us to get out," Mulligan said.

Her husband Harvey Berger said they live immediately below the house that burned.

"It was our neighbor's husband who went in while the house was fully engulfed and got the guy out," Berger said. "I talked to him after he went into the burning house."

The village of Idyllwild is about 5,300 feet above sea level in the San Jacinto Mountains, south of Banning and Beaumont in the San Gorgonio Pass. It is about a two-hour drive east of downtown Los Angeles.

Follow Banning-Beaumont Patch on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for the free daily newsletter here.