Izabel Beriguete, 8, came close to never meeting her new baby sister.
Had it not been for two of her uncles and her aunt’s boyfriend, Izabel would have died during a fire early Thursday morning in Aspen Hill.
She was just “breaths away from real tragedy,” doctors told Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer.
The fire, caused by a faulty furnace, destroyed property valued at $350,000 and killed a 1-year-old pit bull named Skrappy, family and Piringer said.
Izabel and her uncle Ryan Parker, 21, were treated for smoke inhalation at nearby hospitals. Izabel is still recovering, but when she’s able, she will be reunited with her mother, Lyz Parker, 28, and new sister at Montgomery General Hospital, Lyz Parker said.
Lyz Parker had left Izabel with Izabel’s grandmother Wednesday night so she could give birth, family members told The Examiner.
Blake Gales, 21, the boyfriend of Izabel’s aunt, said he came home and discovered the fire about 2:30 a.m. in the basement utility room. He rousted the seven others staying in the house.
Once outside, Gales and Ryan Parker realized Izabel was still in her basement bedroom, but smoke and flames had engulfed the stairwell. Gales and Dylan Parker, 16, then broke Izabel’s window and Gales called to her.
“Help me, I don’t want to die,” she called back, Gales said. He couldn’t reach her and she stopped responding to his calls.
That’s when Ryan Parker jumped through the window, a towel wrapped around his head, and crawled across the floor to discover his niece’s unconscious body, Parker said.
“I thought she was dead. She wasn’t breathing,” Parker said.
Parker said he couldn’t see well enough to hand Izabel through the window, so he ripped the towel off, fought the stinging pain of smoke flooding his lungs, handed her off and pulled himself into the fresh air.
Emergency workers just arriving were able to revive Izabel, Parker said. They wouldn’t let Parker go back to rescue his dog.
Thursday afternoon, Parker was outside his grandmother’s burned-down house, sipping Coronas and wrapping himself in coats brought by friends. Some of the displaced family is staying with friends, while the rest is staying in hotel rooms provided by the Red Cross.
Parker has 11 nieces. “Good thing I only had to save one.”
