BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — Veronica Saldivar yelled into her phone while she took a video of the fire across the street, "our neighbors' house is on fire! Guys, this is awful."
Around 10:45 p.m. Monday night Saldivar was relaxing in her home, when she heard something outside. She thought someone was breaking into her car, but when she saw the flames she ran back into her house.
"Well I was watching TV and didn't pay attention to what she was saying and then my other two daughters came down and started yelling," Celio Saldivar said.
And then his instinct kicked in.
"Got out the door and ran over there. I didn't think about it … just do it," he said.
Mr. Saldivar told 2 News he ran through the yard, across the flower bed, into the front door to get the woman trapped in the house. Within seconds, he found her, picked her up and carried her to safety without saying a word.
While Celio was in the house Vernonica called 911, "to me it felt like forever."
She thinks it took about fifteen minutes for firefighters to arrive. A spokesperson with the city said crews got the fire under control another fifteen minutes after arriving.
Veronica and her neighbors worried the fire would spread to other houses. It did burn the wall of the house directly next door, but the other houses in the neighborhood were left unscathed.
In the yard is some burned rubble, damp from Tuesday's rain, and a reminder of the family atmosphere in this Broken Arrow neighborhood.
"If they see anyone that needs help, they jump into help. It doesn't matter who we are. Everybody just jumps in and helps each other," Veronica said.
Broken Arrow officials said no one was hurt as a result of the fire. They have not released a possible cause.
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