Rescuers talk about saving disabled man from burning Vallejo home

VALLEJO, Calif. (KTVU) -- Two Vallejo men who ran into a burning house to rescue a disabled man talked to KTVU about their life-saving heroics Friday.

Neither of the rescuers had ever met Mike McIntire, the blind man who has had both feet amputated, before the incident.

Thanks to the quick action of the two men, McIntire was uninjured after the fire broke out on Kentucky Street Thursday afternoon that sent one person to the hospital.

Neighbor Joe Perry saw smoke billowing from the house. He heard a man screaming from behind a door. Perry ran inside and began to lift McIntire out of the chair he was sitting in.

Moments later, a second man entered the home. Tygin Paschel had been working at a nearby house. He stopped, ran over and began helping Perry carry the disabled man to safety.

Perry told KTVU he wasn't scared, at first.

"When the adrenaline kicks in, you're not really that stressed going in. Going out, you're thinking 'Ok, this is where it's going to catch me,'" said Perry.

Another man living in the house had made it out, but suffered burns. He is now in the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Paschal said he helped get him to the curb and, at the man's request, ran in the home to get the man's phone.

"I was scared for a minute; very nervous. I thought everything was going to crash down on me," said Paschal.

Relatives of the hospitalized man thanked the men who acted so bravely.

"Very grateful they went in there jeopardizing their lives," said niece Elvida Angel.

Neither rescuer would call himself a hero. That's for others to say.

"I feel good. I helped get two people out of the house," said Paschal.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Family has set up a GoFundMe page for the homeowners who lost so much in the fire and do not have insurance.

The damage is extensive, but everyone made it out alive, thanks to some quick thinking and a lot of courage.