LOCAL : Girl’s Call Saves Mother, Herself

a dramatic late-night rescue, police and neighbors helped save a Costa Mesa woman and her young daughter from a blazing, smoke-filled house, police said today.

Nine-year-old April Thousand called 911 about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday and told dispatchers that her home was on fire, Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Tim Holbrook said.

Three police officers, who were the first to arrive at the burning two-story house in the 300 block of 16th Place, heard cries for help from within the home. The officers broke down the door and two of them entered, Holbrook said. They crawled along a hallway and into a bedroom where they found Linda Thousand, 31, asleep in her bed.

As the officers led Thousand out of the house, she screamed for her daughter, Holbrook said. The officers went back into the house to find April but by that time neighbors had used a ladder to rescue the girl from an upstairs bedroom, he said.

Firefighters then arrived and put out the blaze, which authorities believe was caused by grease on the stove catching fire, the sergeant said. The first floor of the house was gutted.