Woman, girl rescued from burning building

ANAHEIM — Late to a sales appointment Thursday morning, Andrew Quihuiz decided to take a shortcut. The decision saved a little girl’s life. The shortcut brought Quihuiz near an Eton Place

duplex that was engulfed in flames, a 26-year-old woman and her 4-year-old daughter who were trapped inside. “I saw a lady screaming that she had a baby inside and I said, ‘Throw her out!’ ”

Quihuiz said. She did. Quihuiz caught the girl, tossed by Christine Lyddon from a window 20 feet above. “I caught her like a baseball,” he said. “I took her over to a truck and sat her

there and she told me that she was worried about her toys burning. I told her that I would buy her new toys.” The child, Christy, who fire officials said accidentally started the fire while

playing with a cigarette lighter, suffered smoke inhalation but was otherwise not injured. But the drama did not end there. Quihuiz was joined by 26-year-old Scott Belt, a neighbor who saw

the smoke through his kitchen window. Belt, wearing a cast over a broken leg, persuaded a hysterical Lyddon to jump. “There was no way out and it was engulfed in flames,” Belt said. “I

coached her about five times and finally, she came out head-first, like a torpedo.” Belt was able to break Lyddon’s fall, but she still landed head-first into the asphalt. She suffered

numerous injuries, including a broken ankle and smoke inhalation, fire officials said. Mother and daughter were taken to UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange. MORE TO READ