1 Killed, 3 Injured in Fire; Tenant Rescues Woman, Child : Blaze: Flames at a Garden Grove apartment complex in the early morning cause $40,000 in damage.

A 40-year-old man rescued a partially blind woman and her 5-year-old daughter from an early morning blaze Wednesday that left one woman dead and three police officers injured, authorities said.

Residents at the Casa Mariposa Apartments were calling Frank Valdez a hero after he pulled Pamela Reeds and her daughter, Angela, from the flames.

“I just did what I had to do,” said Valdez. “You don’t think about it, you just do it.”

Angie Gardner, 32, was found dead when firefighters reached her apartment in the complex at 12131 Chapman Ave., said Ellen Covey, a Fire Department spokeswoman.

A trio of police officers, whose names were not released by authorities, arrived minutes before firefighters and suffered minor injuries in their efforts to evacuate the 38-unit building. They were treated and released at the Garden Grove Hospital.

By the time officers arrived, Reeds, 42, and her daughter had managed with the help of Valdez to escape the flames that caused $40,000 in damage to the building and its contents, Covey said. Reeds and the girl were treated at the Garden Grove Hospital and released.

Reeds is partially blind and uses a cane to get around, said Lou Trigg, manager of the two-story apartment complex. She shared the apartment with Gardner, a friend for many years, he said.

Valdez, a self-described “night owl,” had been watching television that morning before drifting off to sleep.About 2:40 a.m., he was awakened by screams from an apartment across the courtyard.

“At first, I thought it was a domestic dispute,” Valdez said.

But after a few minutes, the screams got louder and a frightened Valdez called 911 before rushing out to help.

He saw that Pamela Reeds and her daughter were leaning out the bedroom window and calling for help as smoke engulfed them. Valdez used a picnic table and stool from a neighbor’s apartment as a ladder. Reeds then lowered her child through the window to Valdez before clambering down to safety.

Valdez, who has two young children, said Reeds was mostly concerned about getting Angela out of the blaze.

“She kept screaming, ‘Save my baby, save my baby,’ ” Valdez said. “I just wanted to get them out.”

“He’s a hero,” said Rhonda Goslyn, a resident of the complex for 2 1/2 years. “He was going to go back for the third woman when the police stopped him. . . . I pray that if ever I need someone, I have a neighbor like him around.”

Covey, the Fire Department spokeswoman, said the call was reported at 2:43 a.m. and the flames were extinguished within 17 minutes. The cause of the fire, which started in the bedroom, is under investigation, she said.

Last November, another tragic incident struck Casa Mariposa when a woman was stabbed to death and her attacker attempted suicide with the same knife in a domestic dispute.

“It’s been an adventure here,” said Valdez, who moved into the complex a few weeks before that incident. “I wish I could have helped her, too.”