Family struggling with loss after raging fire burns house down in Milpitas

It was just after 6:30pm when Efren Rosas heard a crackling sound coming from behind him.

He was dozing off on the couch; the television was on. There was no one else home at the time. His brother, Galdino Rosas, had gone out to see a movie with the rest of the family.

But Efren had stayed behind, wanting to relax.

When the crackling sound got his attention, Efren turned to see a wave of growing flames moving toward him.

He quickly got himself up and pulled himself into his wheelchair. Then he wheeled himself out the front door of the house, the growing fire right at his back.

As Efren is disabled, with only one leg, making it out of the home alive was no easy feat. But he made it out in time. Just barely.

“The house is on fire,” Efren told his brother Galdino over the phone, once he was outside and safe.

Galdino rushed back home to find his brother out in front of the house. The fire department arrived a few minutes later.  Read more…