Former Polson resident saves neighbors
JUAN ARMANDO GARCIA, a 2011 Polson High School graduate, ran into a neighbor’s house after he heard an explosion last week in Washington. (Photo provided)
FORMER POLSON resident Juan Armando Garcia and his friends were up late when they heard an explosion, realizing it was the neighbor’s garage. Garcia ran into the house and woke the residents up as the fire spread to the house. (Photo provided courtesy Juan Armando Garcia)
It was an otherwise normal early morning last week for former Polson resident Juan Armando Garcia, who now lives in Des Moines, Washington.
“My girlfriend and I, and my roommate were up late. We’re night owls, thankfully,” he began.
The trio was watching television at about 3 a.m. on Thursday, June 7, when they heard what Garcia described as a small explosion.
“Initially we thought someone ran into a car or it was a gunshot,” Garcia, a 2011 Polson High School graduate, recalled.
Garcia, 25, his girlfriend, Kylee, and roomate, Topher, ran outside to see what happened.
That’s when Garcia said he noticed that the neighbor’s garage was on fire.
Garcia’s roommate called 9-1-1 and Garcia, realizing the fire was growing, worried that first responders wouldn’t reach the family he knew lived in the house periodically popping.
Garcia made the decision to go into the house, although he was nervous from small explosions.
The door was unlocked, Garcia said, and when he got inside the house, he started yelling there was a fire.
“A woman walked out and was confused until she saw the flames,” Garcia said.
Reassuring that help was on the way, Garcia told the woman that the family needed to leave immediately.
As three residents and Garcia exited the house, they told him there was still one other person downstairs, whose room was closest to where the flames now were.
Garcia went back in, getting the last woman and her dog safely out of the structure.
Once everyone was accounted for, Garcia talked with law enforcement and the fire department, recounting everything that happened.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but Garcia said that he’s been talking with authorities to help them piece together their investigation.
“I’m happy everyone’s safe,” he said, adding that he was glad he, Kylee and Topher were up as late as they were.
Local media called Garcia a hero for his actions, something he said he feels he isn’t.
“It’s exactly what I thought anyone would do,” he said.
As he’s talked with friends and coworkers, that’s not the consensus, as people have told him they probably wouldn’t go into a fire.
“All I did was something I thought anyone would do.”