Destiny Abdrazack died in the blaze
(Picture: Gofundme)A woman has died in a house fire that was sparked by an artificial Christmas tree in California.
Destiny Abdrazack, 22, had been celebrating with her family at their home in the North Highlands when an electrical short from the tree ignited at around 2am on Christmas Day.
Abdrazack screamed “fire” to wake up her relatives as there was no working smoke detector in the home.
“She was the one who yelled fire, and that’s the sad part,” her fiance’s father, Ernest Isom, told KCRA3. “She saved our lives.”
Abrazack was pulled out of the building by firefighters and taken to hospital. Despite the best efforts of medical professionals, she was later pronounced dead.
The five others in the house — Isom, his wife and son, and two other adults — survived.
Isom said the family had fallen asleep without turning off the Christmas tree lights.
“Unfortunately, they wanted to keep the lights on until the last minute and we all happened to fall asleep and we had an instant, seconds to get out,” he told the station. “It was fast, and that’s how quick it went. I’m talking minutes.”
Two family dogs also died in the fire.
Neighbours said they woke to a loud noise and looked out the window to see the house covered in flames.
“You could see the flickering light on the tree and that’s kind of like the telltale sign of a fire,” neighbour Richard Byers said.
His wife, Brandy Byers, said they saw Isom’s family standing outside shouting for help.
“They were screaming, ‘Destiny! There’s someone inside! There’s someone inside!’” Brandy Byers told KCRA3. “There [was] nothing any of us could do.”
