(July 6, 2008) -- Simple acts by individuals can have profound consequences...and while not all the details are in yet, LBReport.com has learned that this may have happened in the July 5 Galaxy Towers fire.
A little over a year after a kitchen fire got out of hand, blocking escape for an 18th floor resident who leaped to his death as flames advanced on him, the simple actions of neighbors may have prevented a similar catastrophe.
As LBReport.com reported yesterday, 11th floor neighbors Elaine Marks and her husband [we regret not having his name at this point, our apologies] heard the building's fire alarm...and saw smoke coming from under the door of a neighbor.
They knocked on their neighbor's door and called 911...and what they did may have saved her life.
LBFD Public Information Officer/Firefighter Josh Johnson confirms that a fire started in the woman's kitchen area [exact cause pending] while she was in the bathroom.
Officially unstated for now: if Mr. and Mrs. Marks hadn't been home, if they hadn't spotted smoke coming from under their neighbor's door, if they hadn't knocked on her door [we presume they pounded on it to get her attention], if they hadn't immediately called 911, if they hadn't successfully prevailed on their neighbor to get out immediately and done likewise themselves, we shudder to contemplate what might have happened.
Following the March 2007 fatal Galaxy Towers blaze, LBFD showed the City Council (and the public) a training video demonstrating how temperatures in a simple, unsprinklered house fire can soar hundreds of degrees in barely a minute or so, truly horrifying.
We encountered 11th floor neighbor Elaine Marks on the sidewalk below, watching firefighters mop up things on her floor.
What happened in the fire, we asked? "A lot of smoke was coming out of [our neighbor's apartment], and we got her out of there and I called 911 and then we all left," she told us matter-of-factly.
Well...what did you see when she opened the door? "There was a lot of smoke. My husband helped get her out and I phoned 911," again stated as if what she and her husband did wasn't much.
We mentioned to Ms. Marks that she seemed quite modest for someone who may have just helped save someone's life. She gave us a surprised look. "All we did was knock on her door; my husband got her out and I called 911, that's all," she reiterated.
"To save one life is as if you have saved the world," says the Talmud. What two LB residents did at Ocean Blvd/Temple Ave. on July 5 may have saved their neighbor's life.
Ms. Marks described what they did with quiet simplicity...making their actions all the more remarkable.
