Alright. Every time games get blamed, tangentially, for some idiot criminal’s behaviour, everyone makes the rhetorical argument the local news never calls out the tangential gaming interests of a good samaritan. Well, rub your eyes and stand corrected: A gamer is being called a hero for saving an old man from a burning home.
And it’s not just the local media making the connection. A captain for the Orange County (Calif.) Fire Authority said it himself, briefing reporters after 22-year-old Misrael Flores, of Westminster, helped his unconscious 87-year-old neighbour to safety.
Flores “was playing video games and basically looked out his window and saw the fire,” Capt. Steve Concialdi told City News Service of Southern California, according to LAist. “He ran into his neighbour’s house and was able to successfully exit him out.”
Could use some work on the public safety jargon front, but I’ll take it. KABC-TV first reported Flores’ identity and spoke to him about the incident. He saw his neighbour’s mobile home “engulfed in flames,” checked into it and discovered the man unconscious on the ground. Flores brought him to his house. No word if they played anything while they waited for help to arrive (that’s a joke, sorry.)
The fire, started by an extension cord, did $US25,000 worth of damage to the man’s home. After being treated for smoke inhalation, the 87-year-old (whose name was not released) is doing fine.
Heroic 22-Year-Old Video Gamer Rescues Octogenarian from Mobile Home Fire [LAist, h/t Michael G]
Image by Todd Klassy [Shutterstock]
Comments
8 responses to “Today In Unexpected Headlines: Gamer Saves Old Man From Burning Home”
Today In
UnexpectedHeadlines:GamerNeighbour Saves Old Man From Burning HomeNice 😀
What are you talking about? The fact that he plays video games is obviously vitally relevant to the story.
Great work! Great to hear he lived. Awesome to hear positive news for once 🙂
Authorities pinpointed his excessive playing of Call Of Duty: Fire Department, as a possible cause of him committing this atrocity.
…Meanwhile UbiSoft have just announced the movie to game make Backdraft.
Second time this year gamers have done this too. GTA5 launch rings a bell as when, it was definitely on the night of a big midnight launch event.
What game was he playing? Sim City? L4d2?
We should outlaw extension cords! They’re the real issue, causing fires on a whim!
Even better, we should ban fire! Prometheus has had it too good for too long!
Oxygen does a world of mischief, too! And who thought having houses made of combustible materials was a responsible choice? Just asking for trouble…
Wonder if he had to get the firefighters a new hose before they put out the fire, a hose that is sold by the local shop keeper who would only sell him the hose if he stopped the pesky neighbourhood kids from stealing his shop sign because they needed it to block of the entry way to the lair of a dragon that was only attacking the town because the King had stolen his gold only because the King had to pay the ransom of his daughter who was being kept hostage by a wizard because the wizard mistakenly thinks the King destroyed his home, but it turns out it was actually the Kings evil twin which once revealed the the wizard let the daughter go, the King returned the gold to the dragon which in turned stops attacking the town, no longer requiring the neighbourhood kids to block of the entry to it’s lair, so the shop keepers gets his sign back, and can sell the hose to the man so the firefighters have a new hose to put the fire out with.