Turtle Rescued from Small Dorm Fire by Soccer Players at UCSB

A student named Mel noticed the smoke, and thought someone was just “hot boxing in the apartment.” A few minutes later she noted the billowing smoke coming from the window of the  apartment of the Bradbury Village portion of the San Clemente Villages five part complex. The smoke was now way more distinguishable.

She alerted her friends and several of them jumped in to action. Three people playing soccer nearby approached the window where the smoke was now more apparent.

Roarke Norton pulled on the window and was able to unhinge it to then remove the screen and gain access to the unit. Justin Muñoz and Jose Laderma followed and initially used a jug of water and attempted to put the already stubborn fire out just small water bottles.

They stated the fire seemed to go out, yet reignited each time. The smoke was already very heavy and impeded their vision and ability to breathe.

They used many additional water bottles as the fire seemed to already be inside the wall. They suffered smoke inhalation yet did not seem to initially want additional medical support.

These Good Samaritans succeeded to eventually put the fire out. It is believed that due to recent testing of the alarm system, there was a delay for first responders to arrive because for several days there was testing of the alarms and it may have been thought to be a false alarm.

Thankfully no one appeared to be seriously injured and the building was saved from serious damage by this group of soccer enthusiasts who just happened to be denied entry in to another field at UCSB and thus migrated to Meredith Park which lies between Harder Stadium and the San Clemente Complex.