Marysville Hero: 22-Year-Old Saves Elderly Couple From Burning Building

MARYSVILLE (CBS13) — A 22-year-old rushed in to save an elderly couple trapped in a house in Marysville.

"I thank him with my life, and I already have, he's a brave young man," said Jarrett Willis.

Jarrett and the love of his life, Linda, were trapped in a fire. She's bedridden, unable to get out on her own.

"Flames were already higher than her head," he said. "People tolerate me, but they love her because she loves people."

Jarrett carried Linda to the hallway, but no farther. He screamed for help as the couple could barely breathe in the thick smoke.

"I started crying out, 'Jesus help!' Just crying that."

It was his next-door neighbor Deven Dunn who would answer the desperate call.

In a snap, he ran into the burning Marysville home. Showing incredible courage and strength, he pulled Jarrett and Linda outside while his father, James Dagit, called 911.

"He only weighs about 130 pounds, and yet he had both of these people in his arms, and he drug 'em out of the house," Dagit said.

"A person doesn't just respond. There has to be something inward that makes him respond like that," Jarrett said.

There's no question in his mind, that if not for Deven, he wouldn't be here to tell us this story.

"I believe with all my heart, he saved our lives."

A hero, and a humble hero at that. Deven's been telling his neighbors he simply did what anyone else would do.

"We barely know each other," Jarrett said, "Some neighbors you get to know and some you don't. I would say hi, you know. We never had a long conversation and he just came in without even thinking."

Jarrett has minor burns to his hands. Other than that, he's OK. Linda is being treated in the burn unit at the U.C. Davis Medical Center. She's in stable condition .