Roommate saved during early morning Oakland condo fire; cats spared from flames

Roommate saved from Oakland fire

Flames raced through a two-story building in Oakland early Tuesday morning where one roommate saved another by waking him up and getting him to run outside.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Flames raced through a two-story building in Oakland early Tuesday morning where one roommate saved another by waking him up and getting him to run outside.

The fire was reported about 3:30 a.m. on Martin Luther King Jr. Way and 31st Street, near Interstate 980.

Firefighters said the blaze quickly spread, causing a second alarm.

Joseph Hansen said his roommate is a hero.

"She woke me up, and I looked out the window and there was a fire on the stairwell burning my house down," he said.

Jetta Rae Robertson does not consider herself a hero, even though she woke up to a wall of fire.

"I woke up my roommate dragged my essentials and I left," she said.

While both fared OK, Hansen said he was pretty sure that both of his cats had died.

But he was wrong; firefighters had rescued them.