Alex Bazinyan, 20, and his 15-year-old brother Narek rushed into a burning Glendale assisted living facility Friday afternoon and helped rescue six elderly residents before the structure partially collapsed.
The blaze erupted at approximately 4:45 p.m. On the 1800 block of Mountain Street, sending flames and thick smoke pouring from the home while eight people remained inside, including two nurses struggling to evacuate the seniors.
“I ran outside and I was looking at the front door when I saw the nurse outside and she was screaming for help,” Alex told KTLA.
Narek had initially grabbed a hose to battle the flames, but the fire only intensified and the cries for assistance grew louder, prompting the brothers to charge directly into the building.
“I go inside this big room and I see all these old people on the floor with catheters,” Alex said. “Some people were injured, had blood on their legs. We just took everybody out one by one.”
Two additional neighbors ran over to assist, and together the group managed to carry all six seniors to the front lawn before fire crews reached the scene.
The danger persisted until the final moments of the rescue. Alex told KTLA he heard an explosion just after pulling the last person from the home.
“As I’m looking around, I just see flames going up and coming towards me,” Narek said. “I tried bringing everyone out as fast as I could. There was smoke everywhere. I was pretty much blinded by the smoke.”
The Glendale Fire Department chief told KTLA that an oxygen tank likely detonated, causing part of the home to collapse. Firefighters later extinguished the blaze before neighboring houses could be affected.
Seven people sustained minor injuries in the incident. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The brothers, who live near the facility, described their actions as an automatic response to seeing neighbors in peril rather than a calculated decision.
“It’s that instinct of whenever you see people in need, you want to help them out,” Alex said. “You don’t really think about who it is. We have a really tight-knit community here.”
The rescue unfolded in a residential area where the brothers’ familiarity with their neighbors may have proved decisive, allowing them to act before emergency responders could navigate to the scene.