Homeless man hailed a hero after saving entire family from a deadly fire: 'I got you, don't worry'

A local hero is receiving well-deserved recognition in his hometown for his life-saving actions. This courageous individual bravely rescued a family of three and their two dogs from a devastating apartment fire that occurred this week. Claudia Jimenez, one of the residents, recounted the harrowing experience to CBS News, recalling how she woke up to find her apartment engulfed in flames and discovered that the front door was locked. This made leaving the apartment even more difficult as there was no exit point for them.

Then, she decided to call for help from her secondary-story apartment unit and Joe Hollins came to help them and save their lives. "All I see is a lady pull open the window and she's screaming 'Please help me, please help me,'" Hollins told PEOPLE. He is a homeless man, who was living with his wife around Jimenez's apartment. He asked Jimenez to drop her daughters, who are named Valarie and Natalie, aged 8 and 1 and tried to catch them.

"He was right underneath and he was like 'Yes, throw your daughters out, I'm going to catch them, I'm going to get them," Jiminez said. After getting a hold of the daughters, he went ahead to save the dogs and finally, he saved Jimenez. "She didn't want to come at first," Hollins said of Jiminez's fear of jumping from the window. "She was scared she was going to fall. I was like, 'I got you. Don't worry.'" 

The apartment and the belongings were burnt that night but Jimenez's entire family is safe, thanks to Hollins. "I will forever be thankful to him, you know? Like I said, to me, he was an angel," Jiminez said. "Because of him we're here, we're alive, and my daughters are safe."

Hollins did not even take too much credit for what he did and even said, anyone would have done the same. "Those are children," he said.

As the saying goes, "Real superheroes don't wear capes," and this sentiment holds true in yet another remarkable story. On May 1, 2023, strong gusts of wind took hold of a stroller, with a precious baby boy inside, outside a car wash located on Hesperia Road.

Security footage shows the baby's great-aunt unloading items from the backseat of her SUV when the stroller suddenly starts to roll backward. According to CBS News, she notices and bolts toward the stroller but trips and falls. She gets up again, only to fall once more. Just moments before hitting the traffic, a mysterious man dashes in from the side and grabs the stroller on its tracks. The man identified as Ron Nessman strolled the baby back up the driveway as another person helped the injured woman stand up.

“Her knees were bleeding, and she was traumatized from falling and from the baby going into traffic,” Nessman told KTLA5. “I can only imagine what was going on in her head. It was heart-wrenching. She was crying, and she was in shock. I hope she is all right.”