Glendale : Man Saves Family From Fire in House

Call him the local lifesaver.

Twenty years ago, Rene Camberos of Glendale pulled his drowning brother from a lake in the mountains.

And on Mother’s Day, Camberos performed another heroic feat by rescuing a family of four who were asleep when fire erupted in their Glendale home.

“The whole time, I was thinking I had to get the people out,” the 30-year-old building maintenance engineer at Verdugo Hills Hospital said Tuesday. “I thought they were knocked out from the smoke.”

Shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday, Camberos had driven his 31-year-old wife, Rosa Lopez-Camberos, to her father’s home in the 1300 block of East Harvard Street to pick up some tables for a Mother’s Day picnic. They loaded the tables onto their vehicle and were about to leave when Rosa noticed smoke coming from the home behind her father’s.

The Camberoses screamed and yelled in an attempt to awaken Othon Orozco, 27; his wife, Mary Ann Orozco, 27, and their two boys--Nigel, 6, and Steven, 2.

Rene Camberos then took a fire extinguisher hanging outside the house and broke down the front door to put out flames licking at a living room couch, a wall and parts of the carpet, he said.

Meanwhile the Orozcos were able to escape from an open window in another room.

The only injury was to Mary Ann Orozco, who sustained a large cut on her right arm after breaking a window.

Firefighters said the blaze caused $7,000 in damage. Investigators also determined that flames were ignited by the 2-year-old boy, who was playing with a lighter. No charges will be filed.

On Tuesday, Battalion Chief Mike Carter applauded Rene Camberos’ quick thinking.

“We intend to do some type of commendation for him,” Carter said. “His name will be submitted.”