A pair of gray sweatpants is all Daron Palmer says he could save when his home in Oildale burned down this week.
"I jumped in my wheelchair, and about that time a flame comes streaming through my bathroom, barely misses my head,” Palmer said. “I barely got out of the house.”
Palmer says his home on Linda Vista Drive went up in flames in a matter of minutes. He was sound asleep when his wife smelled smoke and woke him.
"Honey wake up, there's a fire, and we all got out except for my animals,” said Palmer’s wife Tammy Martin on Wednesday. “I just told them let's go, let's get out of here."
The family lost two chihuahuas, two cats and two guard dogs, but both parents are alive because their son helped them get in their wheelchairs and get out.
“I was trying to get my parents out,” said Raymond Martin. “Just trying to grab two water hoses and get them out.”
Nearly 20 firefighters battled the fire, which they say started in the garage and quickly spread to the attic. Crews say the home was 50-percent engulfed when they arrived.
"It’s scary because the way the ramp is, it's in front of my garage,” Palmer said. “And, I was worried about the flames shooting that way and blocking our exits.”
Palmer has COPD, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and had 20 bottles of oxygen in the home. He says they went off like missiles. "Like an atomic bomb went off in my house. Nothing was able to be saved at all."
Firefighters say the cause of the fire is still unknown. Damage is estimated at $150,000.
Palmer says his family is receiving help from the Red Cross, and he expects to leave the hospital on Saturday.
