By Sandra T. Molina
The Whittier Daily News
PICO RIVERA, Calif. — Marvin McClendon was on his way back to work after running an errand Monday afternoon, when he saw smoke coming from where he worked.
Or so he thought.
When McClendon got closer, he saw that the smoke was emanating from his mother’s home, on the 8900 block of Clarinda Avenue, next door to the preschool where he works. And which his mother founded.
“My first thought was they’re inside,” he said of his mother, Christine McClendon, 84, and sister, Brenda McClendon, 58.
Marvin McClendon, 56, of La Mirada, was particularly concerned because both women have health issues which hampers their mobility.
Fortunately for the McClendons, Good Samaritans came to the rescue.
Neighbors George Karavolos, 34, and Dwayne Bray, 57, along with Pico Rivera Public Works employee Dave Valdapena, 64, had worked together to get the women out of the home.
“All the tension just left my body,” McClendon said, after hearing Karavalos shouting, “We got `em out!”
Los Angeles County Fire Department officials said the fire started by accident.
“My sister forgot about a pot boiling with eggs on the stove,” McClendon confirmed.
Even though it was in the middle of the afternoon, Karavolos was only concerned with his first cup of coffee of the day, after sleeping in during his vacation.
As he drove down the street looking for his cup o’ Joe, Karavalos saw the smoke.
“I just stopped the car in the middle of the street, and ran toward the house,” he said.
He saw Bray shooting water from a garden hose at the side of the house.
“One of the neighbors was using a garden hose upon arrival,” said Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Don Kunitomi. “That was pretty nice.”
Officials estimate structural damage at $75,000 and about $5,000 to items inside the home.
“The kitchen is totally gone, but the rest seems structurally sound,” McClendon said.
His mother, who uses a walker due to a stroke about a dozen years ago, and his sister, who uses a wheelchair because of several mini strokes, are now living elsewhere with family.
“I just am glad everyone is safe and that the fire didn’t spread further,” Bray said of using the garden hose.
Valdapena saw the smoke as he worked at the city’s nearby water pumping plant.
“I came around the block, stopped and just went to see what I could do,” he said.
Valdapena and Karavolos worked together to free Brenda McClendon from where she was stuck inside the door, sitting in her wheelchair.
Not knowing if anyone else was inside, he took off his shirt, doused it in water, put it over his head and walked inside.
“I screamed out for anyone inside,” Karavolos said. “I felt for the walls, but I couldn’t see anything but the orange of the flames.”
He then saw light from a flashlight and felt a tap on the shoulder.
“It was a firefighter telling me to get out.”
For Karavolos, who lives several house up from the McClendons, the experience hit close to home.
Last January he helped pull out his grandparents from inside their burning home on the same street.
“I know how this family feels,” said Karavolos, whose grandparents survived.
“Thank God for good people,” McClendon said. “They saved my family.”
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