SACRAMENTO, Calif. --
A passerby rescued three people inside an East Sacramento boarding home early Friday morning after he spotted a fire.
Santino Deanda, 31, was driving down the 3700 block of H Street when he noticed the back of the home was on fire.
He told his wife to call 911 and ran to the front door, but no one answered.
Deanda went inside the house, which was full of smoke, and woke up the residents.
One elderly man and Deanda were taken a hospital to be treated for minor smoke inhalation. The rest escaped unharmed.
"I'm not hero," Deanda said. "I could have died in that fire, but I never thought twice about going in."
The Sacramento Fire Department said the blaze started on the outside of the home, in back. It burned up the side of the home and filled the house with smoke.
Firefighters stopped the flames from going inside.
The boarding home had smoke detectors, firefighters said, but they might not have been working.
The incident is under investigation.
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