An Alhambra husband and father says his wife was a “hero” who gave her life to save their children after a fire engulfed their apartment last week.
Carlos Mendez said his 40-year-old wife, Llenny Vazquez, was the heart and light of her family. As flames ripped through their apartment, Vazquez ran through the smoke to grab their trapped kids and handed them to him, Mendez recalled.
“She was brave enough to go through the smoke and the ashes and brought my kids over to me,” Mendez told NBCLA.
The blaze last week erupted around 8 a.m. in the front unit of the six-unit apartment building on the 300 block of North Electric Avenue. Also injured in the fire were Mendez, the five children and a good Samaritan who tried to help Mendez as he desperately tried to save his wife and three of the children still trapped inside.
Get Southern California news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC LA newsletters.
Neighbors said they saw Mendez running barefoot through glass to rescue his family. But to him, his Vazquez was the real hero.
“If it hadn’t been because of her, my kids would have died as well. So, she was the hero,” Mendez said, sitting next to a photo of his wife.
Vazquez died in the hospital one day after the fire. Mendez said he wasn’t able to say goodbye or at least tell Vazquez that their kids were safe. Three of the children were initially in critical condition but are now recovering.
Local
Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
