Officers Lead 2 to Safety in House Fire : Rescues: LAPD veteran was in a car nearby when he saw the flames. He and a colleague aided a teen-ager and her disabled father.

Los Angeles Police Officer Adam Gauba picked the right place to park Wednesday morning--directly in front of 18242 Saticoy St.

The 22-year LAPD veteran was doing some paperwork in his car about 8:50 a.m. when he heard a crackling sound coming from the single-story house.

“I saw flames spitting out of the window,” said Gauba, 52.

Within minutes, he and another officer led 15-year-old Isis Nevarez and her disabled father, Tony, to safety.

After calling the station, Gauba ran to the front door, but it was too hot to open. He circled around, entering the kitchen through a back door, and found Isis screaming for her mother, Tonia.

Gauba led Isis outside and then re-entered, hearing her mother’s screams. Gauba went through the kitchen into the house’s central hall, but the heat was so strong he backed out.

Later, he discovered that the woman had climbed to safety through a window.

Neighbors, including one who identified himself as an off-duty firefighter, began battling the fire with garden hoses. Meanwhile, Police Sgt. Gary Patton, who was driving two blocks away when Gauba radioed for help, arrived and went into the back of the house.

Patton found Tony Nevarez, described as usually wheelchair-bound, trying to put out the fire with a hose in the kitchen. He grabbed the exhausted man, dragged him outside and, with Gauba’s help, carried him away from the house as fire engines arrived.

Firefighters took 12 minutes to extinguish the blaze, the cause of which remained under investigation.