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Fredy Garcia never thought he would save someone’s life. But when he saw flames coming out of the house next door to his plumbing job and heard a panicked scream, he couldn’t just stand there.
He ran into the home’s blazing living room on June 30 to rescue an elderly resident who couldn’t walk. Wanting to help was just an instinct, Garcia said in Spanish through an interpreter.
Garcia and his co-workers at Bayshore Plumbers, Victor Alanis, Jose Sierra, Ezequiel Garibay and Anderson Chiti, were honored by the Menlo Park Fire Protection District for their role in extinguishing the house fire at a ceremony on July 21.
The five plumbers were working on the asphalt in front of a house on the 200 block of Willow Road in Menlo Park when they heard an explosive sound from the neighboring home. When Alanis identified the noise as a fire, the whole crew sprang to action, pulling hoses off their truck and spraying water on the flames.
Through the smoke, Garcia said they could see people in the back of the house. A voice screamed for help: “Hey, can you get my mom out?” Without considering the danger to himself, Garcia said he tore through the house and found a 99-year-old woman who was unable to walk and carried her out the back door to safety.
Menlo Park fire Chief Mark Lorenzen, left, and Board of Directors President Virginia Chang Kiraly present an Acts of Service Certificate to Bayshore Plumbers worker Fredy Garcia at the Menlo Park Fire Protection District board meeting on July 21 for saving a senior from a burning house in Menlo Park. Photo by Karina Patel. 
Workers from Bayshore Plumbers share a laugh at the Menlo Park Fire Protection District Board Meeting honoring the group for saving a senior from a burning house at the Menlo Park Fire District’s Station 1 in Menlo Park, Calif. on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. Photo by Karina Patel. 
The group of workers from Bayshore Plumbers that saved a senior from a burning home pose for a photo in front of a fire truck at the Menlo Park Fire District Board Meeting in Menlo Park, Calif. on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. Photo by Karina Patel.
“I was scared, but I was good, and the lady couldn’t walk,” Garcia said, adding that it he had never done something like that before. It felt very rewarding to have saved her life, he said.
Shortly after Garcia, the elderly resident and her caregiver escaped the burning house, Menlo Park firefighters arrived on the scene. Deputy Fire Chief Dan Coyle said that as he approached the property, workers sporting fluorescent green vests were swiftly moving cones blocking the eastbound lanes of Willow Road and directing traffic to give the firefighters access.
“It’s awesome when bystanders jump in and show initiative and bravery,” Coyle said, calling Garcia’s dash into the house a “great personal risk” to himself.
Coyle said by the time he and his team reached the house, the plumbing crew had cleared much of the front porch and were back at work.
“(They) took five minutes off their plumbing job, saved someone’s life, and went back to work,” he said.
Sam Jimenez, the owner of Redwood City-based Bayshore Plumbers, said he was extremely proud of his crewmembers’ heroic actions. He also praised their professionalism in quickly returning to the job. “They didn’t milk it at all,” he said.
Jimenez, a decorated combat veteran, said that during his military service it was important to him to ensure his teammates were recognized, and he brings the same mindset to being a business owner.
“They did something awesome,” Jimenez said of his employees. “If they were my military guys, I’d be writing them up for a Silver Star or at least a Bronze Star with valor.”
The recognition also strikes a personal chord with Jimenez, who said that as a Hispanic person, highlighting the community’s hard work can be a way to dispel discriminatory attitudes. “They’re just hard-working dudes that, at a moment’s notice, could be saving your life.”
“With all the bad press, everything’s going on around the world and at least around the country right now … I think it’s just a really, really cool story for the political climate that we have nowadays,” Jimenez said.
