EVANS, Colo.—It’s easy to find heroes on this block in Evans.
In this neighborhood on 38th Avenue, there’s the teenager who broke a window to try to save a 2-year-old and got her arms and hands cut. There’s the neighbor boy who heard her calls for help and ran home to wake his dad. And there’s the dad, who ran into a burning house, kicked in the door and pulled the 2-year-old to safety.
It all happened a few weeks ago, and the Evans Fire Department plans to give special recognition to Ben Llamas. Llamas pulled 2-year-old Mia Sanchez from the locked bedroom that afternoon. He then extinguished most of the fire, using a spray nozzle from the kitchen sink.
But Llamas credits his son, who woke him to the fire.
The blaze began as Artemisa Sanchez, 15, was cooking dinner for her family. Frying grease on the stove burst into flames, and she couldn’t put it out. Sanchez ran to a back bedroom in the house to save her niece, Mia.
The little girl had locked the bedroom door from the inside, and Sanchez couldn’t get it open. The kitchen fire had spread to the cupboards. Sanchez ran outside and tried to break the bedroom window with her fists but could make only small holes. She cut her hands and arms on the broken glass as flames spread to the ceiling.
Nine-year-old Cruz Llamas was playing outside with friends.
“I heard her screaming for help,” Cruz said, “so I ran inside to tell my dad.”
The dad, Ben Llamas, works the night shift at the JBS plant in Greeley, so he was asleep. Not for long.
Llamas ran into the house when he learned of the little girl inside.
“There were smoke alarms going off and the smoke was pretty thick,” he said. “I didn’t know where the fire was, but I knew the girl was in the bedroom.”
He kicked open the bedroom door. Mia was standing behind the door, and it cut her mouth when it burst open. Llamas grabbed her and took her outside to Artemisa.
By that time, a neighbor came back inside with Llamas to find the fire. He saw the fire in the kitchen and used the spray faucet to extinguish most of it.
The Evans Fire Department soon extinguished the rest of the blaze, which caused $25,000 in damage.
Assistant Fire Chief Rob Standen said the department will recognize Ben Llamas for his actions.
“It was a very brave thing to do,” Standen said. “But we don’t really advise people to run into burning buildings.”
For Ben Llamas, it wasn’t anything to stop and think about.
“God puts us in the places he wants us to be,” he said. “I think that’s why I was there.”
The day after the fire, to apologize for cutting her lip when the door flew open, Ben Llamas bought a teddy bear for 2-year-old Mia.
