{"id":148835,"date":"2026-01-25T10:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T10:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/148835\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T10:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T10:18:10","slug":"101-year-old-woman-rescued-from-her-burning-california-home-by-a-ups-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/148835\/","title":{"rendered":"101-Year-Old Woman Rescued from Her Burning California Home by a UPS Driver"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEED TO KNOW
\nA UPS driver rescued a 101-year-old woman from her burning California home on Jan. 15″I just did what I thought was right,” driver Willy Esquivel saidThe elderly woman, Ann Edwards, survived and was taken to a local hospital for evaluation<\/p>\n

A 101-year-old woman was rescued from a house fire<\/a> in California by a UPS driver.\n<\/p>\n

The incident occurred in Santa Ana on Jan. 15, according to the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA).\n<\/p>\n

The OCFA said in a Facebook post<\/a> that the \u201cquick action by neighbors and a UPS driver\u201d saved the life of the elderly woman, who was later identified as Ann Edwards by local news outlet KTLA 5<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter neighbors saw smoke, they rushed to the woman\u2019s home, pounded on the door and tried to help her exit safely. When she hesitated, they asked a nearby UPS driver for help, who picked her up and carried her to safety,\u201d officials said.\n<\/p>\n

Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.\n<\/p>\n

Some neighbors used fire extinguishers<\/a> to put out flames in Edwards’ kitchen, according to the fire department.\n<\/p>\n

Another neighbor, who was “a roofer by trade,” used a ladder to climb onto the woman’s roof and spray water into the kitchen vent with a garden hose, officials added.\n<\/p>\n

The OCFA said firefighters arrived shortly after a call was placed and extinguished the remaining flames, which they said \u201cspread into the attic.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

They added that Edwards was transported to a local hospital for evaluation.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cA remarkable outcome made possible by quick action, teamwork and people looking out for one another in a moment of need,” officials said in their post.\n<\/p>\n

The OCFA did not respond to PEOPLE\u2019s request for comment.\n<\/p>\n

The UPS driver, identified by KTLA 5 as Willy Esquivel, said he helped because he did what he hoped anyone would have done in the same situation.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI just did what I thought was right. At the end of the day, she\u2019s someone\u2019s mother, someone\u2019s grandmother, great-grandmother,\u201d he said while speaking to the outlet.\n<\/p>\n

Esquivel also said he doesn\u2019t consider himself a hero.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just a UPS driver who was in the right place at the right time,\u201d he told KTLA 5. \u201cI\u2019m just glad I was able to lend a hand when it was needed. I hope she has a quick recovery.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

The woman\u2019s son, Rick Edwards, expressed his immense gratitude to Esquivel.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, because I bet you it took a little bit to get my mom out of there,\u201d he told KTLA 5. \u201cGod bless you, man, for sticking with her and getting her out of there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW A UPS driver rescued a 101-year-old woman from her burning California home on Jan. 15″I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-148835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}