San Diego police Officer Caleb Knobel was a block away from a burning apartment building when he received the call about the fire over the radio at about 7:30 a.m. on Dec. 11.
Knobel arrived at the Loma Portal Apartments, 3131 Cauby St., and said he saw plumes of smoke and flames billowing from the windows of a second-story unit. As people ran from the flaming building, he helped them to safety.
“As I was standing there, a guy “¦ came out holding a baby and he said there was a woman stuck up there,” Knobel said.
The man holding the baby was Jim Grant.
Grant, a general contractor, drove along Rosecrans Street that morning on his way to work, he said.
As he drove, he noticed a column of white smoke coming from behind the Walgreens on Rosecrans Street.
As Grant waited at the intersection of Rosecrans Street and Midway Drive, he saw the smoke turn black. When he saw the building on fire he called 9-1-1. He drove toward scene with a camera in hand.
By the time Grant arrived, flames had already engulfed the corner unit of the second floor, he said.
Grant asked a group of evacuated residents if anybody had checked the rest of the building for more residents. With the San Diego Fire and Rescue Department just minutes away, he entered the complex through an emergency exit on the second floor.
“When I opened up that door up, I’m hit with a blast of acrid, black smoke and heat coming out of the hallway ” and that’s not a good sign,” he said.
Grant said he went down the hall pounding and kicking on doors to warn anybody still left inside. The thick smoke nearly choked him, he said.
“I felt like my lungs were the size of an egg,” he said.
He arrived at a room with an open door. He said he saw a woman in a mobile-scooter, holding an infant, with a boy about 9 years old.
Grant said he grabbed the baby and the boy and headed outside.
After giving the infant to a neighbor, he said he went back into the building to check on the woman.
Knobel said he and Grant went back into the building to rescue the disabled woman.
After evacuating a few more people, Knobel helped Grant carry the woman down stairs to safety. They also retrieved the woman’s scooter from the top of the stairs, he said.
As they brought the woman out, firefighters arrived on scene and began to battle the blaze.
With the victims being treated, Grant and Knobel lost track of each other in the confusion.
“I feel like I just helped out a Good Samaritan,” Knobel said.
According to fire department spokesman Maurice Luque, investigators traced the cause to exposed electrical wires.
The blaze caused about $150,000 in damage to the entire apartment structure, including $75,000 in damage to the unit where the fire started, he said. The three-story complex has about 19 units, Luque said.
According to an apartment manager, the woman, infant and boy have since moved from the apartment and are safe, he said.
“I gave the [apartment] manager my card,” Grant said. “When she settles down I’m sure she’ll get a hold of me.”
Nobody was transported to a hospital that day, officials said.