Bystanders Rescue 2 as House Goes Up in Flames : Fires: The screaming and badly burned victims are carried out of the dwelling by a roofer and a neighbor. The blaze started in a mattress.

Two quick-thinking bystanders Wednesday rescued two people who were badly burned when a smoldering mattress ignited a house fire, authorities said.

The structure blaze, which broke out about 10 a.m. in the 19100 block of Community Street, erupted when fresh air provided oxygen to set the smoldering material aflame, said Michael Little, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman.

Van Nuys roofer Tim Agee was atop a home across the street from the fire and Franz Glubiak, a retired Rocketdyne worker who lives in the neighborhood, was standing outside his home when they heard screams for help and saw the smoke.

“We were standing in the street about 50 yards away when we heard someone screaming, ‘Help, fire!’ and we saw the smoke,” Glubiak said.

“I ran over there and the roofer came down and we saw the man and woman lying in the house and they were on fire.”

As about 15 bystanders watched, Glubiak and Agee rushed into the house. They first pulled out a 37-year-old paraplegic man who was lying on the mattress as it burned. Then they went back in and aided a woman who had been carrying the mattress. She was badly burned around her head and neck, Agee said. The rescuers used their hands to put out the flames on both victims’ bodies.

A man who had also been carrying the mattress was able to escape from the house. A young boy inside the house escaped unharmed, Agee and Glubiak said.

After the rescue, Glubiak and Agee hooked up two garden hoses and extinguished the blaze before fire crews showed up about four minutes after receiving the call.

Officials did not identify any of the fire victims.

Glubiak, 64, a former rescue worker in the coal mines of Belgium, said he is all too familiar with the scenario and acted from instinct when he heard the screams.

“I knew right away what I had to do,” he said. “Get the people out and get the fire out.”

Agee, 29, said he couldn’t stand outside the home and do nothing while he listened to screams for help.

“No one else would go near the fire, but people were screaming and burning to death,” Agee said.

“We got them just in time, because the hallway went up in flames just a second or two after that,” Agee said.

The disabled victim was transported to Northridge Hospital Medical Center where he was treated for second- and third-degree burns to over 90% of his body, Little said.

The female victim also was taken to the Northridge hospital, where she was treated for second- and third-degree burns over 40% of her body, Little said. The man who got out of the house was treated for burns on 20% of his body at the West Hills Regional Medical Center, Little said.

About 20 firefighters worked less than 15 minutes to finish extinguishing the blaze, Little said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.