A California man is being hailed as a real-life hero after risking his life to help a pregnant woman escape a raging apartment fire — a selfless act that may ultimately cost him both of his legs.
Brian Jackson was visiting friends at an apartment complex in Riverside when a fire broke out in the early morning hours of Sept. 17.
Within moments, the building was filling with smoke and flames.
Jackson said he spotted a pregnant woman near a second-story window who appeared ready to jump in a desperate attempt to escape.
He immediately realized how dangerous that could be.
“When I seen her try to jump out of the window, I said no you can’t do that,” Jackson recalled from his hospital bed.
“You’re going to kill yourself if you jump out this window. Look how high it is.”
The frightened woman reportedly told him she didn’t know what else to do.
Jackson decided to help.
He said he went out first so he could try to guide the woman down safely.
Then everything changed.
Jackson recalled hearing a loud explosion before suddenly being thrown from the building.
“And then next thing you know, I got pushed off,” he said.
The fall left Jackson with catastrophic injuries.
His family says he broke both legs and both ankles and lost feeling in his right foot.
He underwent emergency surgery and remains hospitalized as doctors work to save his legs.
His family has been warned that he could require amputations and may face an extremely difficult road back to walking.
But when Jackson finally woke up in the hospital, his family says his first concern wasn’t his own shattered legs.
He wanted to know whether the pregnant woman and her baby were okay.
That moment has stayed with his family.
His stepdaughter, Elexis Hernandez, described Jackson as a hero — but not the kind people normally see in movies or on television.
“The real kind,” she wrote while raising money to help cover his medical expenses.
Jackson’s daughter Maia Gutierrez also said his immediate concern after regaining consciousness was the woman and her unborn child.
The Riverside Fire Department said firefighters were called to the two-story apartment building shortly after 2:15 a.m.
When crews arrived, one apartment was fully engulfed in flames.
Two people were seen hanging from windows of a neighboring apartment, while other injured residents were already on the ground after escaping from the building.
Firefighters rescued those trapped at the windows and treated the injured.
Several people were taken to hospitals, along with a firefighter who suffered minor injuries.
Two dogs were also rescued, while three others were found dead.
Jackson’s family says the woman he tried to help was pregnant and had been preparing to escape through a window when he intervened.
Now, days after the fire, Jackson remains in a hospital bed facing multiple surgeries, months of rehabilitation and an uncertain future.
The financial situation is especially difficult.
His stepdaughter Tehani Gutierrez said Jackson had been working full time but living out of his car before the fire.
With Jackson now unable to work, his family has launched a fundraiser to help pay for medical expenses and support him during what could be a lengthy recovery.
More than $24,000 had been raised by Wednesday.
“Now, my hero is stuck in a hospital bed, broken and in pain,” Hernandez wrote.
She said her stepfather faces multiple surgeries and months of rehabilitation while his family tries to prepare for the possibility that he may not be able to walk for a long time.
Despite everything Jackson has lost, his family says he does not regret helping the woman.
For them, what happened inside that burning apartment showed exactly what kind of person he is.
When a stranger was trapped and terrified, Jackson put her safety ahead of his own — and now his family is hoping the community will rally around the man they call their hero.
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Next Gen News Team