Los Banos police officers rushed into burning home to save lives - twice

Officer Eduardo Solis heard an elderly woman’s voice calling out from inside a burning home Thursday, but he couldn’t get in through the front door to help her.

“Every time I would go, a big gust would push me back,” Solis said in an interview. Training called for first responders to get low to avoid the smoke. But there was too much, he said.

“You couldn’t breathe. It smelled like burning plastic, burning chemicals,” said Solis, adding that his supervisor later noticed Solis’ tone of voice was different, and he was struggling for air while reporting over the radio as the first officer on scene.

Solis later was treated for minor smoke inhalation at Memorial Hospital in Los Banos, along with Sgt. Ivan Mendez and officer Omar Mondragon.

The three members of the Los Banos Police Department have been called heroes after saving an elderly woman and 5-year-old boy, and jumping back in to search for another child who was thought to have been in the Santa Cruz Way home but wasn’t Thursday.

“We appreciate all the recognition and support,” Mendez said, insisting that the city’s police, fire and public works departments worked together to save the residents. “Honestly, we were just doing our job.”

Solis and Mendez were the first on scene at the incident. But as bystanders shouted that people were inside, they sprung into action.

Solis said he took a step back to assess the situation after the initial adrenaline rush of trying to get in through the front door. He used an ax to break the front window instead, which is when Mendez arrived on scene.

Solis helped Mendez through the window and Mendez saw the woman walking away from them.

Mendez said his eyes were itching and he was having trouble breathing when they yelled at the woman to come toward them.

But when Mendez walked toward her, he noticed a young boy underneath blankets. Mendez grabbed the boy and ran toward the window to hand him to Solis.

The woman couldn’t grasp what Mendez was saying, and her mobility was limited due to a medical issue.

“I just decided, what the heck, I’m going to lift her up and carry her over,” he said. “She began yelling. Obviously, she was scared.”

After the woman was taken to safety, Mondragon and Fire Chief Tim Marrison went back in the home to search for another girl who turned out to not be there.

Solis and Mendez said running into the burning home without protective firefighting gear was about their commitments to save lives.

“One of the things going through my mind was I know there was one person in there,” Solis said. “I don’t want to give my guys two people to carry.”

But even in a fire, Mendez said the focus, as police officers, was on saving lives.

“We have to make split-second decisions that sometimes can cost our lives,” Solis said. “But in the end, is saving someone’s life worth it?”

The fire started in the garage and the cause was deemed to be of “accidental nature,” Marrison said.

When their families heard what happened, Mendez and Solis said it was tough.

“It’s very emotional,” Mendez said. “It’s a difficult job. We get scrutinized, on social media and stuff. But that doesn’t deter us. ... You get home, you’re drained, tired. But our families understand that’s what we sign up for.”

While they said they didn’t seek the praise, Solis and Mendez said it was appreciated.

Police Chief Gary Brizzee, who said last week that the officers’ actions was “the stuff of heroes,” said Tuesday that the city is working on how to publicly recognize them.

This story was originally published April 5, 2017 at 10:50 AM with the headline "Los Banos police officers rushed into burning home to save lives - twice."