Brothers Help Woman, 87, Escape Burning House
Two brothers were credited with helping save an 87-year-old woman whose San Francisco Drive house caught fire Saturday afternoon.
Boaz, 32, and Mike Balenti, 34, saw smoke coming from the house about 5:45 p.m. during a family birthday party about a block away. They helped Myrtel Lynch open the front door and pulled her to safety.
“We got her out, but she wanted to go right back in,” Mike Balenti said. “She had tried to put out the fire with a blanket. I think if she had stayed in there a minute later, she would have been gone.”
After helping Lynch to the front lawn, the Balentis fought the flames with garden hoses until firefighters arrived, said Dennis Shell, spokesman for the Orange County Fire Authority.
Lynch suffered second-degree burns to her forehead, scalp and arms. Investigators think the fire started because a cabinet filled with books was too close to an electric heater.
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